For Final Assembly:

Make the Pastry Cream first. It will take the longest to chill to a useable temperature.

Then make the Betty Crocker Basic White Cake linked above, in two 8″ layer pans. Cool and trim off the top if rounded. Brush off any crumbs.

When the cake is ready and cooled, and the pastry cream cold, make the Rich Chocolate Glaze.

As the glaze is cooling, place one cake layer on a cardboard round on cooling rack set over waxed paper, bottom side up.

Carefully spoon pastry cream over cake and spread evenly up to cake edge. Place the second layer on top, making sure layers line up properly.

Pour glaze over middle of top layer and let flow down cake sides. Use a metal spatula, if desired, to completely coat cake.

Let sit until glaze fully sets, about 1 hour. Serve.

For the Pastry Cream:

8 servings, 15 minutes plus chill time.

Heat milk in a small saucepan until hot but not simmering.

Whisk yolks, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan until mixture is thick and lemon-colored, 3 to 4 minutes. (This may be whisked with an electric beater and then transferred to the pan.) Add cornstarch; whisk to combine. Slowly whisk in hot milk.

Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly and scraping pan bottom and sides as you stir, until mixture thickens to a thick pudding consistency and loses all traces of raw starch flavor, about 10 minutes.

Off heat, stir in vanilla, and if using rum, and the butter. Transfer to another container to cool to room temperature, placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of mixture to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate pastry cream until firm. (Can be refrigerated overnight.)

To ensure that pastry cream does not thin out, do not whisk once it has set; simply spoon it carefully on top of the first layer of cake.

For the Rich Chocolate Glaze:

Servings 8, time 15 minutes plus time to cool:

Bring cream and corn syrup to a full simmer over medium heat in a medium saucepan.

Off heat, add chocolate; cover and let stand for 8 minutes. (If chocolate has not completely melted, return saucepan to low heat; stir constantly until melted.) Add vanilla; stir very gently until mixture is smooth.

Cool until tepid so that a spoonful drizzled back into pan mounds slightly. (Glaze can be refrigerated to speed up cooling process, stirring every few minutes to ensure even cooling, although the chocolate glaze remains shinier if it is cooled at room temperature.)

* We prefer a mixture of semi and milk chocolate