Italian Cream Cake

This Italian Cream Cake is a tender buttermilk and coconut cake, topped with a cream cheese icing, pecans, and more coconut.

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Two of my favorite things – cake and coconut! If you want even more cakes that are brimming with coconut, check out this Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake, Coconut Orange Pound Cake, or this Coconut Bundt Cake.

Look no further for your next holiday-worthy dessert! This Italian Cream Cake is not only a stunner, but it tastes even better. The cake has a soft, moist crumb, and the coconut and pecans give it such great texture.

This is definitely not a boring cake!

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• Butter – My original recipe posted here had 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening. I really do love the texture you get when you use shortening in a cake, but I have been having a harder time finding it lately so I decided to use all butter. And it was delicious. But both ways really do work well for this cake, though.
• Sugar – It is all white, granulated sugar.
• Eggs – You’ll want to separate your eggs for this recipe. The yolks will go into the batter first, then you’ll whip up the egg whites to bring some volume and lightness into the cake.
• Vanilla and Almond Extracts – The almond extract really does add a lovely flavor, but if you don’t have it (or don’t like it) feel free to substitute in an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Flour – I like all-purpose flour for this cake.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda – These are both for leavening the cake.
• Salt – I like to use sea salt, but table salt will work as well.
• Buttermilk – Real buttermilk would work best for this recipe, but in a pinch, you could use a buttermilk substitute.
• Coconut – I use sweetened, shredded coconut, but unsweetened would work, as well.

For the Frosting:

• Cream Cheese – You’ll want this at room temperature, so take it out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before you are making the frosting.
• Butter – Take this out of the refrigerator at the same time as the cream cheese. I use unsalted butter.
• Vanilla and Almond Extracts – Same with the almond extract above – if you want to leave it out, just add in an extra 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• Salt – This is one of my secrets for the best frosting – a tiny bit of salt to balance out the sweet.
• Powdered Sugar – I don’t sift mine, but feel free to if you like to do that.
• Heavy Whipping Cream – You could also use milk – you’re only using a small amount to get a good consistency to your frosting.
• Pecans – If you don’t like nuts, feel free to leave those off. You could also use walnut, although I think pecans are more traditional.
• Coconut – The coconut is not essential, either, but both the nuts and the coconut are a big part of an Italian cream cake. But without them, you’d still have a delicious buttermilk cake.

How to Make the Cake

1: Grease 3 8-inch pans, and line with parchment paper, if desired. I have these pans and love them!

2: Beat the butter and sugar together until they are nice and creamy.

3: Add the egg yolks and both extracts and mix again.

4: In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5: Add 1/3 of the buttermilk to the bowl and mix.

6: Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and mix to combine.

7: Repeat those steps, adding 1/2 of the remaining buttermilk, mix, then the remaining flour, mix, then finally the rest of the buttermilk.

8: Pour in the coconut, and mix to combine it all.

9: Place your egg whites in another bowl. Whisk them until you have stiff peaks. I like to use my hand mixer.

10: Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.

11: Divide the batter evenly between your 3 pans.

12: Bake the cakes until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. You’ll then want to wait until the cake is cooled completely before assembling the cake.

How to Make the Frosting

1: Beat the cream cheese and the butter together.

2: Add the extracts, as well as a pinch of salt.

3: Start adding in the powdered sugar. I like to add a half a cup at a time, mixing fully between additions. If you try to add it in all at once, you usually will end up with just as much powdered sugar outside the bowl as inside.

4: Mix it all together until it’s nice and creamy.

5: Add as much cream as needed – it’s usually between 2-3 tablespoons, to get the frosting to a good consistency.

6: Once it’s all mixed, I like to stir it again a few times with a spatula – just to make sure I didn’t miss any parts against the bowl.

How to Frost the Cake

One of the things I like about this cake is that you don’t have to be a cake decorator to make a holiday worthy cake. Because you are putting pecans on the outside and coconut on top, it’ so much easier to do this as a beginner!

1: Start by adding a layer of frosting between your first cake layers. I like to assemble the cake on a turntable – it just makes it so much easier to decorate. I also like to use a small offset spatula for spreading the frosting.

2: Take the second cake layer and put it on top, then add another layer of frosting. Place the last cake layer on the top.

3: Next comes the crumb coat – spread a thin layer of frosting over the whole cake. This is kind of like a glue to keep the cake crumbs with your cake instead of all over in the frosting. I like to refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes after this step.

4: Once the frosting has set, use the rest of your frosting to frost the cake. Then press the pecans into the side of the cake, and sprinkle the coconut over the top.

Storing and Freezing

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator up to a week. You’ll want to cover the cake as best as possible with plastic wrap to avoid it drying out.

If you want to freeze the cake, it’s easiest to freeze the layers and then frost the cake when you are ready to serve. Wrap the layers tightly in plastic wrap, then in foil or place them in a freezer safe ziplock bag. Thaw at room temperature, the frost as written in the recipe.

If you have leftover cake, you can freeze individual slices. This is best done in a freezer safe container. I wouldn’t freeze the slices for more than 2 months.

Tips and Tricks

There is a lot of mixing while making the cake – just try not to overmix the batter. Mix just enough to incorporate ingredients without going crazy.

Make sure all of your ingredients are room temperature for best results.

The cake technically feeds 16 people, but I think you could even get away with serving smaller pieces because it is so sweet. (But I will happily eat a whole piece myself!)

For the best result, toast your pecans before chopping them.

You could also toast the coconut that goes on top of the cake.

More Layer Cakes

Carrot Cake
Dark Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream
Double Chocolate Cake
Candy Bar Cake
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Cherry Chip Cake with Fluffy Frosting

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Italian Cream Cake

5 from 3 votes

Author: Deborah Harroun

Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Inactive Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 servings

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

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This Italian Cream Cake is a tender buttermilk and coconut cake, topped with a cream cheese icing, pecans, and more coconut.

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Ingredients

Cake:

• ▢ 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 2 cups (396 g) sugar
• ▢ 5 eggs separated
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• ▢ 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk
• ▢ 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Frosting:

• ▢ 12 oz (224 g) cream cheese, softened
• ▢ 3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• ▢ Pinch of salt
• ▢ 6 cups (681 g) powdered sugar
• ▢ 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• ▢ 1 cup (114 g) pecans, chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup (43 g) sweetened, shredded coconut

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease 3 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, if desired.
• In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract.
• In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Mix one-third of the buttermilk into the batter. Then add half of the flour mixture and mix to combined. Repeat with one-half of the remaining buttermilk, all of the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining buttermilk. Stir in the coconut.
• In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they have stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Let the cakes cool for about 15 minutes, then remove from the pans and let cool completely.
• To make the frosting: Cream the cream cheese and the butter until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla, almond extract, and a pinch of salt.
• Start adding in the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time. Beat until smooth and combined. Add the cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach a spreading consistency. (You may not need all of the cream.)
• Spread the frosting between the cake layers, then make a thin crumb coat on the exterior. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then add another layer of frosting on the sides and the top of the cake.
• Press the pecans onto the sides of the cake, and sprinkle the coconut over the top.

Recipe Notes:

Reference the post above for substitutions and storing.

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 715kcal (36%), Carbohydrates: 88g (29%), Protein: 6g (12%), Fat: 37g (57%), Saturated Fat: 18g (113%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g, Cholesterol: 136mg (45%), Sodium: 246mg (11%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 73g (81%)

Keywords: italian cream cake, italian cream cake recipe