• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. If you have a flour sifter, sift all dry ingredients.
• In mixing bowl, beat oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla for 1 minute. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Pour in hot water and mix together. The batter will be liquidy but that's a good thing -- it will create a moist cake.
• Spray two or three 8 or 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. You can use three 8 inch cake pans for this recipe. Pour batter evenly into each pan. Bake at 22-27 minutes. Place toothpick or cake tester in the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean.
• Let cool before frosting. To make it easier to frost, freeze the cake layers for about 30 minutes before frosting.

To make Raspberry Cream Filling:

• In a large mixing bowl, whip cream cheese for 2 minutes, until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
• Add powdered sugar and beat for 2 more minutes. Add heavy cream and beat until soft peaks form. It needs to be thick enough that it will hold its shape once on the cake layers.

To make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

• In mixing bowl, cream together Butter, Cocoa, Powdered Sugar, and Cream until light and fluffy. You may want to add more cream or milk depending on consistency.

To assemble cake:

• Once the cake has cooled and has been removed from pans, spread cream filling over each cake layer (I used three 8-inch pans). Place raspberries over cream layer. Repeat. *If using raspberry jam, spread it on cake layer before adding the cream filling.
• Frost with chocolate buttercream frosting. Top with fresh raspberries in center of the cake. May dust with powdered sugar.
• Cover and store in the refrigerator.