Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
Butter your pan on the bottom only dust it with flour and put parchment paper.
Put all your ingredients together.sift the flour,cocoa and bicarbonate of soda in a separate bowl and set aside
Separate the egg whites from egg yolks putting them in a dry bowl make sure its completely dry
Whisk the eggwhites
Whisk the eggwhites till they turn white and form soft white peaks and also if you turn your bowl upside down it won't pour out
Add the yolks and vanilla essence and continue whisking
Add the sugar and continue whisking it in till its fully incorporated
Add in the sifted flour in two batches while you gently fold it in to the egg mixture to preserve the air
Put the batter in the baking tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
When baked wait 5 minutes before removing it from the tin then run a knife all over the tin and turn it upside down.wait for it to cool for at least 2 hours before you ice
In the meantime mix the sugar water and put them in pan to heat till the sugar dissolves and reduces a little.when it cools add the rum.choose 4 best looking strawberries to garnish on top the rest dice and put in a little of the syrup and let it soak
Whip the cream till soft peak form
Cut the cake into 3 equal slices sprinkle generous the syrup on all the layers
Put a little cream on the board to secure the first layer in place
Add cream to the layer and garnish with chopped strawberries and the second layer add the cream and strawberries too
Add the final layer and apply cream all over the cake
Grate all your chocolate and sprinkle it all over the top and sides of the pipe abit of cream on the top to help sit strawberries garnish with whole strawberries
