Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line two 8″ cake pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the cake: cocoa, flour, buttermilk powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients for the cake: water, vegetable oil, and vanilla.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry in two batches, whisking to completely combine. Add eggs in one at a time, whisking to completely blend before adding the next one.

Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean in the center. Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack for 15 minutes before flipping them out and letting it cool completely on the rack.

Combine the frozen cherries and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, smashing the cherries with a wooden spoon to extract as much juice out of them as possible.

Drain the cherries into a medium bowl or jar. You should end up with just about 1 cup of syrup for your efforts. Put the cherries back into the saucepan and set it aside for a moment.

From the drained cherry juice, take a tablespoon out of it and add it to the saucepan of cherries. Add 2 tbs of Kirsch into the remaining juice, stir, and let cool before storing in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the cake.

Add 1 tsp cornstarch to the cherry and juice mixture. Stir. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened a bit. Let cool and then store in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the cake.

I usually make the syrup and jam about 3 days before assembling the cake, just so there’s less for me to do later.

Combine all the ingredients and slowly heat over a double-boiler until it’s melted. Whisk or stir constantly until smooth.

Separate into two or three bowls and let it cool in the fridge for a few minutes so that it sets up a bit — where it is thick and spreadable, but not completely solid. Stirring it once in a while as it cools will keep it silky.

Whisk all the ingredients together and then beat on high until it forms soft-to-medium peaks.

Slice each cake in two to form two layers.

Place one layer on your cake board.

Soak the cake layer with the cherry syrup using a pastry brush. Only use enough to darken the sponge — you don’t want it to be soggy.

Spread a thin layer of ganache over the top.

Spread a thin layer of sour cherry jam (optional) over the top.

Spread a third of your homemade cherry jam over the top.

Spread a third of your Chantilly cream over the top. It helps if you pipe a thick ring of ganache around the perimeter of the cake slice before doing this to keep it contained once you begin stacking.

Stack with the next slice of cake. Repeat steps 3-8 for the remaining layers except the last one.

Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining ganache. Decorate as you like!