Let me eat cake!

This is my grandmother's recipe.

Italian Cream Cake

Cream together

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup oil (I used canola, because I'm health conscious. *smirk*)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (I never measure vanilla, but I probably doubled that.)
• 5 egg yolks, one at a time

Then beat the 5 egg whites until they form stiff white peaks, and cream them in too.l

Add

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 can angel coconut

Bake in 3 (9 inch) cake pans or a tube pan for 25 minutes or until done, longer for a bundt pan.

I used a 9x13 sheet pan for once in my life, and it took FOREVER. It's done with the edges pull away from the side of the pan a little, so make sure you grease well. I am a huge fan of the baking Pam, though I just used regular butter flavor Pam this time.

Some other changes I made:

Can angel coconut? What on earth is that? I'm not from Georgia or Tennessee or someplace CRAZY where you have coconut in a CAN! So, I took 1 cup of sweetened flaked coconut, soaked it in the some milk for an hour or two in the fridge, then squeezed most the milk out to add it. This does make a VERY moist cake, almost wet, that is actually better on the second day. IF and only IF it lasts that long.

The icing:

Whip together

• 1 stick butter (REAL BUTTER)
• 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (again, I bet I doubled this)
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans

NOW, let's talk a bit about buttercream. This is a cream cheese buttercream. Everything you use it in should be room temperature. Cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Then add the powdered sugar. Very. Slowly. Then add your pecans. Make sure these are a pretty fine chop. If, when you are done, you find your icing very thick, you can add a bit of hot water. When I say a bit, I mean a teaspoon at a time, until the consistency is right. This particular icing is not one you can use to decorate with, the but nuts make it pretty attractive. For an extra attractive option, you could make it a layer cake, leave the nuts out of the frosting, then press them against the icing on the side of the cake, and drizzle a few across the top. I, however, was lazy this time, and so made a sheetcake. And I certainly did take a lot of crap for that, but you know what? I can't be Superwoman ALL the time.