Italian Cream Cake

While I have a pretty big sweet tooth, I tend to lean more toward cookies or cheesecake than regular cake.  However, I do enjoy a good cake recipe now and then.  Like this one that I found on Pinterest that was shared by "Mom's Mutterings".  This recipe had me at the word "Italian".  I'm not sure exactly how authentically Italian it is, but I am sure that it is really good.

The original recipe called for pecans, which I love and the rest of my family doesn't, so I left them out.  I also switched up the oil called for in the original recipe, which was part butter, part vegetable oil and part shortening.  I simplified it a bit and used coconut oil in place of the oil and shortening.  I also used my homemade kefir (yogurt) in place of the buttermilk (if I don't have the homemade yogurt recipe on the site, I'll be sure and add it post haste).

This cake is pretty sweet and very rich, so definitely not something you want to have every weekend, but for a special occasion this would be perfect.

Italian Cream Cake
Makes one 9" 3-layer cake

The frosting is very generous!

Cake Ingredients:
1C. Homemade kefir (yogurt) or buttermilk
1t. Baking Soda
2C. Sugar
1/2C. Unsalted Butter
1C. Coconut Oil
4 Egg Yolks
1t. Vanilla Extract
4 Egg Whites
2C. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1C. Flaked Coconut

Frosting Recipe:
1 (8oz.) pkg. Creme Cheese, softened
1/2C. Unsalted Butter, softened
3-4C. Confectioner's Sugar
2t. Vanilla Extract

Make the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and flour three 9-inch, round cake pans.  Combine baking soda and kefir or buttermilk.
2. Cream sugar, butter, and coconut oil.  Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix kefir (buttermilk) mixture alternately with flour into creamed mixture.  Stir in Vanilla.
3. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites.  Stir in coconut.
4. Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the Frosting:

1. Beat together the creme cheese, butter, and vanilla.
2. Slowly add confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time, blending after each addition.

Store covered in the refrigerator if it lasts more than a day.

Beautiful or what?  :-)