How to make
1 cup is equal to about 1 cup (250 ml).
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. To the yolks, add the sugar and oil and beat well with a mixer. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and cocoa, stir well and begin adding them to the beaten eggs (to which you've added the warm water) and beat with the mixer until the dry ingredients are fully absorbed. Add the vanilla and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to snow and mix them with the dough using a spatula, until homogenized.
Pour the dough into a form with removable sides, in which you've put baking paper that you've oiled/floured. Bake in a preheated 360°F (180 °C) oven for about 35-40 min. Leave the prepared layer to cool well before cutting it into 2 parts.
Pour the 2 cans of condensed milk into a Teflon pot and heat it on the stove. Once it begins to boil, lower the heat to medium and add the butter. Once it melts, add the coconut flakes and stir well. While stirring nonstop to prevent it from burning, cook until the mixture begins to come off the walls of the pot and thickens. Add the coconut milk and stir until it's absorbed. Leave the cream to cool well before you smear it on the cake.
Pour the water over the brown sugar and heat it until it begins to boil. Then remove from the stove and leave it to cool. If desired, you can pour in a few drops of rum essence or alcohol such as rum, cognac or whiskey.
Heat up the cream for the ganache, being careful not to let it come to a boil and pour it over the crumbled chocolate. Leave it to sit for 5 min., add the butter and begin to carefully stir with a spatula until you get a nice, smooth ganache.
Leave it to cool slightly and to begin to thicken, so that it's easy for you to pour it over the cake.
Assembling the cake:
After you've cut the layer into 2, place the lower one on a grid and syrup it. Don't overdo it because otherwise your cake will fall apart later when you move it to a platter. Pour on the cream and distribute it evenly on top. Syrup the top cake layer as well and place it on top of the cream. You can put the cake for 15-20 min. in the fridge to harden just a bit, then pour the ganache over it and distribute it out along the top and sides of the cake with a spatula.
You can decorate as desired - I used a coconut, from which I cut off strips using a potato peeler.
Transfer the cake to a platter only once the ganache has hardened well.
