For the Sponge

1. Grease two 6-inch round tins with oil and place butter paper at the bottom. Also, preheat your oven to 180° C or 350° F (OTG mode: lower rod + upper rod + fan).
2. In a bowl, sift all the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, natural cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients like eggs, oil, milk, vanilla essence and hot water.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredient mixture gradually in parts. Mix all the ingredients properly until there are no traces of dry ingredients in the batter. Ensure you do not over-mix the batter, or the cake may sink from the middle.
5. Now, pour the batter into the prepared round baking tins equally.
6. Bake them at 180° C or 350° F (OTG mode: lower rod mode only) for 30 – 35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

For the Soaking Syrup

1. Meanwhile, make soaking syrup by mixing water and vanilla essence.

For Frosting

1. First, make ganache the ganache by melting dark couverture chocolate and warming fresh cream separately for the frosting.
2. Once the chocolate has melted and the fresh cream is warm, add fresh cream to the melted chocolate and mix both of them to create a smooth and glossy ganache. Let it cool down completely.
3. In a big bowl, start beating whipping cream with an electric hand beater or stand mixer until it reaches the soft peak stage.
4. Once it reaches the soft peak stage, fold in the cooled ganache with a spatula.
5. Mix properly until fully incorporated. Transfer it to a piping bag and keep it aside to assemble the cake.

For Drip

1. For the drip, melt dark couverture chocolate and fresh cream as we did with the ganache.
2. Now, mix both ingredients to make the drip. Transfer it to a piping bag as well and keep it aside.

Assembly

1. After baking, let the cakes cool down completely before de-moulding. Once they are cooled enough, mould them using a palette knife by running around the cake from the inside edge.
2. While de-moulding, apply pressure towards the tin and not the cake. After de-moulding, divide it into 2 layers using a serrated knife or a cake leveller. Remove the butter paper as well.
3. Now, on the cake base, apply the frosting and place one layer of sponge on top.
4. Soak the layer with simple vanilla soaking syrup and pipe the frosting on top.
5. Now smooth out the frosting using an offset spatula or bent palette knife. Place another layer of sponge on top and repeat the same process until we get four layers of sponges. Soak the top layer as well.
6. For the crumb coat, pipe thin layers of frosting all over the cake.
7. Smooth out the frosting using a palette knife and remove the excess. Keep it in the freezer for 15 – 20 minutes.
8. After 15 – 20 minutes, pipe thick layers of frosting all over the cake and smooth out. Remove the excess and make sure to make the top edge sharp.
9. Now, for decorating the cake, pour the drip around the edge of the cake to give it a drip effect.
10. Pipe swirls on top of the drip around the top and add some chocolate vermicelli sprinkle in the middle.