ITALIAN CREAM CAKER

Italian Cream Cake

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Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
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Ingredients:
· 2 cups flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 cup shortening
· 1/2 cup butter
· 2 cups sugar
· 6 egg yolks
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cup buttermilk
· 1-1/2 cup flaked coconut, lightly toasted
· 6 eggs whites
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· Frosting:
· 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
· 1 pound powdered sugar
· 1/2 cup butter, softened
· 1teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cups chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Note: 1/2 Cup of Whole Pecan's for garnish. Optional.

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch round cake pans. With a wire whisk combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time. Flour mixture is added alternately with buttermilk. Stir in coconut. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold whites into cake batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Special Note the first thing to do is break the eggs and separate them. Take the egg whites and beat them until stiff. Place them in the refrigerator. When ready to fold them into the batter take them out of the refrigerator.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cool cake layers in pans for 5 minutes. Remove to cool completely on racks. Blend together cream cheese, butter. Add powdered sugar a little at a time. Stir in vanilla. Place bottom layer on serving plate. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with 1/4-cup nuts. Top with next layer. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with another 1/4 cup of nuts. Place top layer on middle layer. Ice sides of cake with half of remaining icing. Frost top of cake with last of the frosting. Sprinkle remaining nuts all over the cake.

Also make sure the cake is totally cooled down before Icing. Cakes take a good hour to cool down.. Make sure you have wire racks..

Refrigerate any leftover cake.