Print
Italian Cream Cake
Three layers and cream cheese frosting help make up this delicious cake. Basic cake batter ingredients and toasted pecans start the cake layers. Whipped egg whites mix into the batter to keep it light and fluffy. After letting the cooked layers cool, a cream cheese frosting is made with butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and more pecans. Keeping with the pecan theme, I decorate the cake with Cinnamon Vanilla Glazed Pecans.
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 16 people
Ingredients
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans toasted
- 5 egg whites
Frosting
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch or 9-inch baking pans. In a bowl, combine flour and baking soda.
-
In a very large mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening with electric mixer 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Add yolks and vanilla; beat on medium speed until combined. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to yolk mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until mixed. Fold in coconut and nuts.
-
Thoroughly wash and dry beaters. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Fold about one-third of the egg whites into cake batter to lighten. Fold in remaining whites. Spread cake batter evenly into prepared pans.
-
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near cake centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks. Prepare frosting; fill and frost cake layers.
Frosting
-
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add in powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans.
Recipe Notes
I substitute vegetable oil for shortening. The cake bakes a little shorter but ends up being so moist. Save yourself time, beat the egg whites first and set aside. This way you won’t have to stop and wash and dry them after making the egg yolk mixture. Coconut can easily be omitted. Cinnamon vanilla glazed pecans make a nice decoration when frosting the cake.