Dive into this Italian Cream Cake boasting three lush layers crafted with eggs, all-purpose flour, butter, shortening, sugar, vanilla, buttermilk, coconut, and toasted pecans, frosted with a decadent whipped cream cheese frosting. A slice of Italy, right on your plate!
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Everybody needs a go-to classic Italian Cream Cake recipe! We have the perfect recipe for you, and it is DELICIOUS!
There's just nothing better than the combination of coconut, pecans, and cream cheese frosting. It's no wonder that this is one of our most popular layer cakes!
Why I Love It!
There are so many reasons to love this Italian Cream Cake recipe. Here are just a few:
Cake recipes with pecans and coconut are so flavorful! Delicious combination.
Wonderfully light texture thanks to the whipped egg whites in the cake batter.
Classic cakes like Italian Cream Cake always feel extra special, and make the perfect birthday cake recipes, holiday cakes, more!
How to Make Italian Cream Cake
**You can find the full, printable Italian Cream Cake recipe a little further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!
Preheat the oven and grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We like to also line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
Butter: Mix butter at medium speed until smooth using an electric mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment if using a stand mixer).
Butter & Sugar: Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed 4 to 5 minutes.
Egg Yolks: Add room temperature egg yolks, one at a time, mixing after each addition until the yellow of the yolk is blended. Then, add the vanilla extract.
Flour Mixture: In a separate bowl, add flour, baking soda, and salt, whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
Dry and Wet Ingredients: With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture (that is 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 additions of buttermilk) Mix until just blended.
Pecans and Coconut: Then fold in the pecans and coconut until well combined.
Beat the Egg Whites and Fold into Batter Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula or spoon, gently fold into batter.
Fill the Pans: Spoon batter into three 8 or 9″ round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean, or the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched.
Cool the cake layers (we often place them on a wire rack, still in the pans) and turn out after about 10 minutes.
Assembling the Italian Cream Cake
Now that the Italian Cream Cake layers have cooled completely, it is time to put it all together.
To assemble the cake, place the first cake layer on your cake base or pedestal. Spread with a layer of cream cheese frosting using an offset spatula. Repeat for the next two cake layers.
Next, apply a thin coat (crumb coat) of frosting to the top and around the sides of the cake.
At this time, we like to chill the crumb coated Italian Cream Cake in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator.) This firms everything up nicely before we apply the second layer of cream cheese frosting.
You can refrigerate your bowl of frosting during this time also if it seems a bit too soft.
Decorating the Italian Cream Cake
Next, apply the second layer of frosting to the chilled cake. Today, we went with a smooth finish for our frosting, but a textured finish is always nice too (as with a ridged buttercream technique)!
When we decorate cakes with a smooth finish, we like to run our bench scraper under very hot water before gliding over the chilled frosting. (This technique is often referred to as the Hot Knife Method).
We then pressed chopped pecans around the base of the cake, and applied stars around the top of the cake using a large 1M piping tip.
Cream Cheese Frosting
We always fill and frost our Italian Cream Cakes with a simple, decadent Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. This is a simple combination of butter, softened cream cheese, vanilla, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt.
This recipe makes a great filling and frosting, and we use it on all sorts of cakes, including Red Velvet Cake, Hummingbird Cake, Peaches and Cream Cake, and more!
Consistency of Frosting
Cream cheese frostings are softer than most buttercream frostings and so if it becomes too soft, simply pop the piping bag, bowl, or even the cake into the freezer or refrigerator as needed (for 10 minutes or until desired consistency is reached).
Variations & Substitutions:
Got allergies or preferences? No worries! You can swap the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour for those gluten-intolerant pals. If buttermilk isn’t in your pantry, mix some milk with a splash of lemon juice or white vinegar as a substitute. Not a fan of pecans? Almonds or walnuts can easily stand in. Remember, recipes are like jazz; sometimes, it’s all about the improvisation!
Tools & Things that I think are necessary for this recipe:
3 - 8 or 9 in round cake pans
3 - circle parchment paper
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