Italian Cream Cake
This decadent, moist cake is absolutely beautiful for any occasion.
Italian Cream Cake Recipe
Ingredients
½ cup margarine, softened
½ cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
5 egg yolks
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
5 egg whites
8 ounces cream cheese
½ cup margarine, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans
Maraschino cherries (optional)
Directions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans.
Step 2: Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
Step 3: In a large bowl or mixer, cream ½ cup margarine and shortening until light. Add white sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks.
Step 4: Stir together flour and baking soda, and add alternately with buttermilk into the creamed mixture; mix well after each addition.
Step 5: Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla, coconut, and 1 cup pecans.
Step 6: Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Spoon into prepared pans.
Step 7: Bake for 25 to 40 minutes. Poke each cake with a knife to ensure it comes out clean and the cakes are baked through. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Step 8: Combine cream cheese, ½ cup margarine, confectioners' sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in mixer bowl. Beat until smooth.
Step 9: Cut the tops of the 3 cakes off so that the layers will be even. *Laurie’s Tip: I use a wire cake cutter so they are perfectly even, but you can eyeball it with a long knife.
Step 10: Put a layer of icing between each layer and “build the cake”. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes. *Laurie’s Frosting Tips: (1.) I put a small amount of icing down on the base of the platter or cake circle under the 1st layer to keep it from sliding around. (2.) For the top layer, I flip over the 3rd cake and have the bottom as the “top”. This way you don’t have all the exposed crumbs of the cut cake getting into your icing!
Step 11: I do a thin “crumb layer” of frosting, first. This will lock in all the crumbs from the cake so when you do the second smooth layer, there are no bumps from crumbs. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
Step 12: Continue to frost the entire cake. *Laurie’s Tip: I used a baking scraper to make the top smooth, but it is your preference.
Step 13: Press the remaining ½ cup pecans onto the sides of the cake. Touch up any imperfections and refrigerate the cake until serving.
*Optional: I chose to make this cake fancy for a party, so I doubled the icing recipe and added more powdered sugar to the leftover icing to make it thick enough to pipe. Using a piping bag, scallop the base of the cake and the top ridge with icing. Pipe icing “mounds” on the top and place maraschino cherries on top of the mounds.
