Preheat your oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line three round 8" cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom and grease the pan sides.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, Dutch-process cocoa, black cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.

Mix until combined, and then stir in the boiling water. The batter will be quite thin.

Divide the batter between the three prepared pans. That’s 658 grams of batter per pan (675 grams per pan if using Bob's GF flour).

Bake for 24-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with some moist crumbs but no uncooked liquid.

Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans, and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely - about 2 hours. My cakes weren't flat, but not very rounded, either. If you want to, you can level them (I didn't bother).

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric hand mixer at medium speed until well combined. It's okay if it looks a little crumbly.

Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until totally combined, and then beat in the vanilla and salt.

Beat in a little purple food coloring at a time until you're happy with the color. The photographer used about a teaspoon of Wilton purple gel food coloring.

Place the bottom layer of cake, rounded side down, on the serving plate.

Spread 1 1/4 cups (288 grams) of frosting over the bottom layer, almost until the edge.

Put on the next cake layer, rounded side down, and spread the same amount of frosting over the top of that.

Place the third cake layer on top of the frosting, rounded side up.

Use 1/2 cup (115 grams) of frosting as a crumb coat. Keep the frosting refrigerated until it's ready to use. And if you ever think it's not firm enough, put it back in the fridge.

Spread it all over the cake.

Place the cake in the freezer for 20-30 minutes after putting on the crumb coat or for 1-2 hours in the fridge. You can also refrigerate it overnight to help break up the workload.

Add the chocolate to a small heatproof bowl.

Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until hot and steamy but not bubbling.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for about a minute before stirring.

Let cool for about 8-12 minutes or until just slightly warm and thickened a bit.

Pour the ganache into a plastic squirt bottle (if you have one). Use the bottom of a glass to test the drip's consistency. Turn the glass upside down and squeeze some ganache over the top of the glass bottom. If it's too runny, then wait a few minutes and then do another test on the bottom of the glass. If it's too thick, rewarm it just a tiny bit or add a tiny bit of cream.

Do the drip around the cake, spread the remaining ganache on top of the cake, and smooth it out.

Chill until hardened, about 30 minutes.

Add the meringue ghosts just before serving.

If you want to make the cake elements in advance, let the layers cool, wrap the layers individually in plastic wrap and place inside a Ziploc bag. They can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, refrigerated for 3, or frozen for 3 months. No need to defrost before assembling the cake.

The frosting can be refrigerated for up to 4 days total or frozen for up to 3 months.

You can assemble the cake, add the crumb coat and frosting and then freeze it for up to a week. I would wrap it in plastic wrap and then place it in a big bag, just to be safe. Ghost should always just be added right before serving.