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1
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Sift together dry ingredients.
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2
Melt the chocolates together with the water in a small bowl. Allow to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and 11/4 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
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3
Add half of flour mixture. Add buttermilk and vanilla extract, and then remainder of flour mixture.
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4
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until they form stiff peaks.
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5
Gently fold one-third of the egg whites into the cake batter, then fold in the remaining egg whites.
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6
Divide the batter into 2 pans, and bake for 45 minutes. Cool.
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7
Filling: Stir together heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a saucepan. Put butter, salt, pecans and coconut in a large bow. Heat cream mixture and cook, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Pour hot custard into pecan mixture and stir until the butter is melted. Cool.
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8
Rum Syrup: In a small saucepan, heat the water and sugar until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the dark rum.
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9
Chocolate Icing: Place the chopped chocolate, corn syrup and butter in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand one minute, then stir. Cool.
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10
Once the filling and icing are both cooled, refrigerate for 1 hour.
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11
Assemble the Cake: Remove the cake layers from the pans and cut both cake layers in half horizontally so you have four cake layers. Set the first cake layer on a cake plate. Brush the top of the cake layer with the rum syrup. Spread 3/4 cup of the coconut filling over the cake layer, making sure to reach to the edges. Set another cake layer on top. Repeat, then pipe a decorative border of chocolate icing around the top, encircling the coconut topping.
