Preheat the oven to 180C

Beat the eggs white tiil soft peaks are formed. Add egg yolks and beat again. Add sugar and beat till everything is blended well. It should be super foamy and mousse like. Add vanilla and beat for another 1 minute.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder & cornstarch over it and fold it in gently with your hands.

Dust the cake tin with some oil and flour and pour the above batter into it. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Let it cool completely. Split each cake into 2.Dust off the cake crumbs and reserve till needed.

For the Filling: Mix together 4 tbsp sugar, vanilla essence and strawberries and refrigerate overnight. In a saucepan, add the above marinated mixture, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water and cook till it boils and the mix becomes thick. Let it cool.

Place a layer of the cake on a cake stand, drizzle with the strawberry syrup uniformly, spread a thick layer of whipped cream and then scatter some of the rum-vanilla cherries over it. Repeat. The topmost layer should be the 4th layer of cake.

Cover the top and sides with whipped cream. Decorate with grated/shaved chocolate & whole cherries.

Refrigerate the assembled cake overnight for the flavours to blend. Serve chilled.

Adapted from Ria's Collection: http://alturl.com/u7oxx