• Preheat oven to 350F.

Cake:

• Line two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans or one 9x13 inch rectangular cake pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
• Add the milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, until smooth.
• Add the eggs and beat for another minute.
• Pour batter evenly into 2 round pans or into the single rectangular pan. Slam each pan against the counter once or twice to eliminate any large air bubbles.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert it on a rack, peel off the paper and let it cool completely before decorating.(Recipe from "The Clueless Baker")

Syrup for the cake:

• In a medium saucer bring water and sugar to a boil. Remove from the heat and let it cool. Take a silicone brush or a pastry brush and brush the cake with this syrup, making sure to cover the sides of the cake as well.

Italian Meringue Buttercream:

• In a small saucer pan bring sugar and water to a boil.
• Place egg whites and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Whip egg whites at medium-high speed until stiff but not dry; do not overbeat!
• Let the sugar and water boil until it reaches 235F. When the syrup reaches the temperature (use a candy thermometer to check), remove it from the stove.
• Slowly pour the hot syrup into the meringue steadily with the mixer still on high.
• Beat the frosting for 7-10 minutes until the outside of the bowl is at room temperature.
• Beat in butter by the tablespoon. The butter will deflate the frosting a bit, but that's ok.
• Add vanilla.
• If icing curdles, don't panic. Keep beating until smooth.
• Note: Egg whites are NOT raw in this recipe. The egg whites cook at 145-150F, therefore, slowly adding the 235F hot syrup over them, will ensure that the egg whites are safe to eat.
• Cakes or cupcakes decorated with buttercream generally keep up to 3 days, stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Serve buttercream at room temperature.

Assemble the cake:

• Brush each cake with the syrup, making sure the sides of the cake are also moist. Spread a layer of orange preserves over the bottom layer of the cake and cover with buttercream using a cake spatula.
• Place the second cake on top of the buttercream, then cover the cake with a layer of buttercream all around. The first layer of buttercream is called crumb coat, as it keeps the crumbs of the cake in place. Place the cake in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until the frosting sets.
• If you use fondant, like me, the cake is ready now to apply the layer of fondant. For a 9 inch cake, I used about 1 ½ pounds of white fondant.
• Decorate based on preference.