The birthday cake my youngest requested

I used recipes from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. The cake is her classic chocolate butter cake, baked in three 6 inch pans rather than two 9 inch pans, then cut in half. The frosting is her chocolate silk meringue with 3 egg whites rather than 2. I eliminated the water and heated the egg white and sugar slurry over simmering water after I failed twice to get sugar syrup into my stand mixer at her suggested temperature.