Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

Place the cocoa in a small mixing bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water over it. Stir well with a fork until smooth, and set aside to cool.

Put the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. Set aside.

With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar at high speed until well combined. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each until the mixture is smooth and light.

Add flour mixture in four batches, beating after each addition only until the flour disappears. Alternate with the cocoa mixture in three batches, beating after each just enough to combine everything into a smooth, luscious batter, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Divide the batter among the three cake pans. Bake until the cakes spring back when touched lightly in the center and are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans, 25 to 30 minutes.

Place the cake pans on wire racks and cool the cake layers for 10 minutes. Then gently turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely, top side up.

WHIPPED-CREAM FILLING

In a mixer bowl, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla and beat until thick and luscious. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to complete the cake.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate bits, cream and butter. Cook gently over medium heat, stirring often to help the butter and chocolate to melt, and to avoid letting the mixture come to a boil. When the chocolate and butter have melted, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Add the powdered sugar and beat well at medium speed until thick enough to spread, stopping often to scrape down the bowl.

To complete the cake, place the first layer, top side down on a serving plate and spread half the whipped cream filling almost to the edge. Cover with a second layer, top side down, and spread the remaining whipped cream filling. Place the third layer, top side up, over the filling. Spread the chocolate frosting over the sides and then top of the cake.

Total time: 1 hour, 40 minutes, plus cooling time

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

BROWN SUGAR POUND CAKE WITH CARAMEL GLAZE

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork; set aside. Into a small bowl, pour the milk and add the vanilla; set aside.

With a mixer, beat the butter at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar in three batches, then add all of the white sugar, beating after each addition. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

Reduce the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture and then half the milk, beating until the flour or milk has disappeared into the batter. Add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk in the same way. Quickly scrape the batter into the tube pan and bake until the cake is nicely browned at the edges, springs back when lightly touched at the center and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave it on a wire rack for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen the cake from the pan with a table knife and turn it out onto a wire rack or plate, then leave it to cool completely. When cool, glaze with caramel glaze.

CARAMEL GLAZE

In a large saucepan, place the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir until the butter melts and blends with the brown sugar to a smooth sauce, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the milk and let the icing come to a gentle boil. Stir well, remove from the heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat well with a mixer, whisk or spoon until the glaze thickens and loses a little of its shine, 1 or 2 minutes.

Use at once. If the glaze hardens, stir in 1 or 2 spoonfuls of evaporated milk to soften it.

Total time: 45 minutes, plus baking and cooling time for the cake

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Note: Adapted from "Southern Cakes." You can make this with packaged sliced coconut, but fresh really is better. Hold the coconut over a bowl or pan, with the three "eyes" toward you; strike it with a hammer at what would be its equator line. Continue to strike it in single blows around that "line" until it is cracked. Use a knife to pry the coconut meat from the shards of shell (stick the knife between the brown shell and the tan skin of the meat). It's easy to trim the skin with a vegetable peeler.

CLASSIC COCONUT CAKE WITH WHITE MOUNTAIN COCONUT ICING

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Place the milk in a small bowl and stir in the vanilla; set aside.

Using a mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating, stopping to scrape down the sides, until the mixture is light and evenly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well each time, until the mixture is thick and smooth.

Add about a third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat well at low speed. Add about half of the milk, beating well. Add another third of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the milk and then the remaining flour mixture, beating well each time until the mixture is thick and smooth. Quickly scrape the batter into the cake pans, dividing it evenly. Bake until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when lightly touched in the center and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the cake pans from the oven and leave on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto wire racks or plates, then turn the layers top side up and allow to cool completely.

WHITE MOUNTAIN COCONUT ICING AND ASSEMBLY

Place the sugar with one-half cup water in a small pan and stir to dissolve. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and cook without stirring for 3 minutes. Then boil for 5 to 10 minutes more, stirring often, until the syrup has thickened and will form a thread about 2 inches long when poured from a spoon, or a candy thermometer reads 238 degrees. Remove from heat.

While the syrup is boiling, beat the egg whites in a large mixer bowl at high speed until they are bright white and shiny and pillow up into voluminous clouds. Pour the thickened syrup into the egg whites and continue to beat at high speed until the icing becomes fluffy and holds a peak, 4 to 5 minutes.

Place one cake top-side down on a serving plate. Spread the optional jam over it, then cover it generously with icing and sprinkle with coconut. Place the second layer on top of the first, top side up. Ice the sides of the cake to help keep it steady, then spread icing generously over the top, completely covering the cake.

Place the serving plate on a cookie sheet to catch any loose coconut and sprinkle coconut all over the cake. Gently pat handfuls of coconut onto the sides and top to cover bare spots.

Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, plus baking and cooling time for the cake

Makes 10 to 12 servings.