Italian Cream Cake

Remember The Summer of Cake?

Ahhh, what a wonderful season…

Among the many cakes I made was an Italian Cream cake that I can still taste to this day.

Take a look:

No, that wasn’t the size of my slice…or was it?

This is an easy Italian Cream Cake recipe.

This cream cake recipe is fairly simple to make and incredibly easy to make disappear!

Italian Cream Cake recipe – easy! You’ll want to try it!

If you would like a printable version of the recipe, scroll to bottom of the page.

Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flaked coconut

Instructions:

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended.
Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
Stir in coconut.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Notes: Donna Willcut, Pryor, Oklahoma, Southern Living NOVEMBER 1996

Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

* I doubled the frosting recipe. If there’s any left, I won’t tell anyone if you smear it on your waffles…
Bake chopped pecans in a shallow baking pan at 350°, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until toasted. Cool.
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat frosting at high speed until smooth; stir in pecans.

Notes: Donna Willcut, Pryor, Oklahoma, Southern Living NOVEMBER 1996

Italian Cream Cake without coconut.

There is a school of thought that you must have coconut in your Italian Cream cake, but who’s the boss of you?!

YOU!

If you aren’t a fan, or can’t tolerate coconut, simply omit.

Either way, it was a culinary delight.

See? Easy!

Old fashioned Italian Cream Cake recipe:

Just a head’s up, in case you are wanting to make an old fashioned Italian Cream cake – maybe it’s for an event or to impress your new co-workers – you should use the coconut.

Can you make an Italian Cream Cake with a cake mix?

Absolutely!

Yummly has an entire list of Italian cream cakes with a cake mix.

Some days you have time to bake from scratch, other days we Sandra Lee that secret sauce!

Is this recipe a true Italian wedding cake recipe?

No.

A traditional Italian wedding cake is called Millefoglie, or the cake with a thousand layers.

Very different than this Italian Cream cake!

Is this recipe an Italian batter cake?

Yes!

Basically the batter of the cake.

Mmmm, cake batter. Pass the mixing beater!

Other Italian Cakes:

Y’all! There are so many Italian cakes recipes that you might want to try.

Many aren’t variations of a traditional Italian Cream Cake, but worth noting.

Let’s break it down:

Italian Lemon Cream Cake

Allrecipes has an easy to follow recipe for Italian Lemon Cream Cake.

This lemon Italian cream cake is a popular dessert at restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory and Olive Garden.

Yum.

Italian Rum Cake

I have never had Italian Rum Cake, but just looking at the pic in the link has me putting it on my “to bake” list.

Italian Rainbow Cake

While doing my research for the many Italian cakes, I learned that the Italian Rainbow Cake is sometimes called the Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake.

Didn’t strike me as cookie-ish, but I think because some cut into bars, the cookie moniker is given.

The Italian flag?

Interesting tidbit: this colorful cake is meant to mimic the Italian flag colors.

Fun!

Italian Love Cake

Oh, amore! How can you not love a cake with “love” in its name?

This Italian Love cake is easy to make and looks divine.

Added bonus: CHOCOLATE!

Why is it called a an Italian Love cake?

Research says that this cake is traditionally served at weddings, so, hence, HENCE!, lurv!

With all these cakey options, I’m feeling a some sort of Italian cake will soon be baked in my house.

How about yours?

How to store your cake:

As it happens, I have written a post on how to store baked goods.

TLDR; Once cut, it would be best to store in fridge.

You can count on it to sit well on the counter for 2-3 hours, based on the frosting ingredients.

Can you freeze an Italian Cream Cake?

The short answer is yes.

The caveat is to slice, wrap each slice, and then freeze.

Here are the printable recipes!

If you love the cake, please give it a rating!

Italian Cream Cake

Name: Italian Cream Cake
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened; 1/2 cup shortening; 2 cups sugar; 5 large eggs, separated; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup buttermilk; 1 cup flaked coconut

Yield: 16 slices

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Easy and delicious Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flaked coconut

Instructions

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla, beating until blended.
Combine flour and soda; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
Stir in coconut.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, and fold into batter. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.
Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Notes

Donna Willcut, Pryor, Oklahoma, Southern Living NOVEMBER 1996

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 317Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 191mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 1gSugar: 28gProtein: 4g

Nutrition information isn’t always accurate

Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 2 cups

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Addictive Nutty Cream Cheese Frosting!

Ingredients

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

* I doubled the frosting recipe. If there's any left, I won't tell anyone if you smear it on your waffles...
Bake chopped pecans in a shallow baking pan at 350°, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until toasted. Cool.
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended. Beat frosting at high speed until smooth; stir in pecans.