Italian Cream Cake

This cake is not for the faint of heart! Not with butter, eggs, buttermilk, two kinds of sugar, and cream cheese. Not to mention the coconut and pecans. This is a cake among cakes.

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Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 12

Prep Time: 1 hour for cake and frosting   Cook Time: 25 minutes  

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening (or lard)
2 cups sugar
5 egg yolks
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut
1 cup pecans, chopped
5 egg whites, stiffly beaten

cream cheese frosting

Directions

Cream butter and shortening. Add sugar and beat till smooth. Beat in egg yolks. Combine flour and baking soda; beat into creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Stir in the vanilla, coconut, and pecans then fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. (Don’t over-stir.) Pour into three greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350-degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and frost.

I used three 9-inch cake pans for thin layers with lots of cream cheese frosting in between. You could also bake this cake using just two 9-inch cake pans, or using two or three 8-inch cake pans, or a 13 x 9 pan. Or even cupcakes. Adjust the baking time accordingly.

For the cream cheese frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter
16 ounces powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
chopped pecans

Beat cream cheese and butter; add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat till smooth and creamy. Frost cake.

Categories: Cakes, Desserts, Entertaining, Special Occasions

Submitted by: suzanne-mcminn on April 4, 2011