Silky Italian Cream Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease three, 9 inch round cake pans with butter. Make sure to coat the bottom and the sides evenly.
3. Cut 9 inch circles out of parchments paper and line the bottoms of the greased cake pans.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add butter, white sugar and shortening. Cream the ingredients together using an electric hand mixer. If you don’t have one then a whisk or wooden spoon will work fine.
5. Add vanilla extract, eggs and butter milk to the mixing bowl and whisk them until combined. Set the wet mixture aside.
6. In another bowl sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder twice to remove any lumps or granules.
7. With a silicon spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold the sifted flour and unsweetened coconut into the wet mixture. Make sure you fold the batter rather than whisking it. Any rigorous whisking will knock all the air out of the batter.
8. Pour the cake batter into the greased pans, dividing it equally among them. Put the pans in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes
9. You can check if they’re done by sticking a toothpick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, then the cake is done.
10. Take the cake out of the pans, set them on a rack and let them cool for at least 2 hours before you frost them.

Frosting

1. In a mixing bowl add cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk them together until a light fluffy consistency is reached. Then fold in the cream, sweetened coconut and pecan with a spatula.
2. Spread a layer of the frosting on top of the cakes and layer them on top of each other. If desired, add more pecans and coconuts on the top layer as garnish.

Trivia

Although the recipe is called Italian cream cake, there is no definite source that can confirm whether this recipe is actually authentic to the Italian cuisine. Many expert bakers link this recipe to the southern US than Italy.