Italian Creme Cake is one of the richest, most decadent cakes you will ever eat. It has a luscious cream cheese icing to die for. It also contains coconut and pecans. If you choose to add additional garnishes it will be even more sensational! This cake is a fabulous dessert for any special occasion, the Christmas or Easter holiday seasons or anytime you have company. No one will be able to get enough of it! 🙂

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I got this recipe from Shellie Powell, who was my mother-in-law’s daughter-in-law from her second marriage. Yeah, I know it sounds confusing. We were at a family get-together and she brought this delicious cake. I had to have the recipe and got it right on the spot.

I’m sure Shellie did not create the recipe, but I have no idea who did. I’m just so grateful she shared this delicious recipe with me. We have enjoyed it a lot over the years. I’m also grateful to Bettie Raye and Mindy Triguero who also each gave me the same recipe when I worked with them at Dallas  Baptist University. I LOVED this cake then and I still enjoy it today, decades later. Italian Creme Cake is simply breathtaking!

I’m very grateful to a friend from church, Hannah Noice, who decorated the cake for me. I made three cakes for a bridal shower in my home and I wanted the cakes to look elegant. Hannah volunteered to help me decorate them. She did a fantastic job. She also decorated my Red Velvet Cake and Carrot Cake.

Italian Creme Cake has an amazing combination of pecans, coconut and cream cheese! This cake recipe is one everyone should have. It’s a very elegant 3-layer cake that you can decorate and present very attractively with lots of pecans on the sides and top and piped with cream cheese icing around the top and bottom. Wow! And did I say it tastes simply fabulous? 🙂 Fabulous is an understatement for this excellent dessert.

When I originally posted this recipe in July 2012, I was making this cake for a Ladies’ Gala at our church. I had only been blogging for a month so my pictures were taken with an iPhone camera. Yikes. They were really awful.

Such a beautiful cake should have better pictures! I recently remade this cake (March 2017) and am so grateful for Hannah’s decorating abilities. This cake was a hit.

The only problem you may have is finding a large enough cake container to keep the cake air tight before you serve it. It’s a very tall cake–especially when you add flowers on top. If you don’t have a lot of decorator icing on top you can simply wrap the cake with plastic wrap, but if you decide to decorate it you may have to be creative (like my husband was), by finding a large tote that fits over top of the cake while we stored it in our garage refrigerator prior to the party.

Because this is a very involved recipe, I’ve included a lot of extra pictures and tips. Regardless, this is a cake you’ve got to make. It’s certainly a perfect dessert for Easter and other holidays.

Doesn’t Italian Creme Cake look magnificent? I will tell you this cake has a few more steps than the average cake, but it is well worth the time and effort you put into it.

Italian Creme Cake is so rich and decadent.

Here is a slice of the cake with pretty good detail.

Italian Creme Cake is so elegant and beautiful, it’s great to make for special occasions, holiday baking or anytime you have company.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients for the cake.

Place softened butter and Crisco shortening in a mixing bowl.

Cream with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and mix again.

Separate 5 eggs. Add the egg yolks to the batter in the mixing bowl one at a time, beating after each addition.

Add about half of the flour and all of the baking soda and continue mixing with your electric mixer.

Add half of the buttermilk. Mix with an electric mixer to combine again.

If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can take a cup of milk and add 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of vinegar or lemon juice. Let it set out on the counter for about 5 minutes and you will see it curd. It is soured milk and ready to use. 

Add remaining flour and mix again with electric mixer.

Add remaining buttermilk or soured milk and beat with an electric mixer.

Add vanilla and mix again.

Add coconut and finely diced pecans and stir into batter. 

Using your mixer beat the egg whites on high speed. They will get foamy after a few minutes. Keep beating until stiff peaks form. Add stiff egg whites to batter.

Stir the egg white mixture into the batter and combine.

Pour into 3 well greased and floured 9″ round baking pans.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.  Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and if it comes out clean the cakes are done. (Start checking after 30 minutes. Your oven may bake the cakes more quickly).

I used these ingredients for the icing.

Make your cream cheese frosting: Soften butter and cream cheese. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until all lumps are gone.

This is what the mixture should look like.

Trim off the tough edges around the outside edges of the cakes.

Spread some of icing on your plate. Top with one of the cake layers. Spread with plenty of icing.

Add another cake layer that has had the edges trimmed slightly.

Spread with a very generous amount of cream cheese frosting. Don’t be skimpy! Use a lot. This is supposed to present really elegantly. If the cake has a paper thin layer of icing between the layers it looks cheap.

Add the third layer of cake.

Spread icing thickly on top of cake. You may have to level the layers of the cake, but I didn’t have to.

We placed the cake on a turntable. Spread icing with a spatula around the sides of the cake turning the platform until all the sides of the cake are iced. I’ve included 1 1/2 batches of the icing so it’s enough for this cake.

Scrape excess icing off the top and sides so cake is smooth.

Place finely diced pecans in a large bowl or pie plate. Gently tilt cake with one hand. With the other sprinkle pecans against the sides of the cake so that the pecans adhere to the icing.

Add diced pecans around the sides of the cake.

To decorate the bottom and top of the cake we used a reverse border. If you have extra coconut, you can toast it and add it to the top if you desire. I’ve made it that way before.

Pipe flowers on top of the cake. We chose lavender because this was for a bridal shower, but any color (or even white) can be used.

Add edible beads to the border trim and flowers, as desired. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Italian Creme Cake is one honey of a dessert. It’s not only festive and beautiful to look at, it’s amazing to the taste buds as well.

Here you can see the back view of the cake.

The ladies at the gala snapped up this dessert quickly.

Italian Creme Cake is sure to cure any sweet tooth craving you experience!

Here’s the recipe.

ITALIAN CREME CAKE

(Recipe given to me by Shellie Powell, Largo, FL, and Bettie Raye and Mindy Triguero from when we all worked at Dallas Baptist University)

Doesn’t Italian Creme Cake look yummy?

Italian Creme Cake has always been one of our favorite cakes. I think you’ll enjoy it too!

I assure you, this cake is as good as it gets!

Time to indulge.

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Red White and Blue Coconut Cake

Caramel Apple Cake with Apple Cider Frosting

Pina Colada Cake