the icing on the cake

Vicious Dishes' own Sara had a birthday last week, and the fact that she (along with the other Vicious Dishes - Sarah and Abby) was in town visiting from Louisiana, meant that I was going to seize the opportunity to make her a birthday cake! I set about searching the internet for a new and unusual cake recipe, but came to the realization that the perfect recipe was already in my own recipe binder.

As far as I know, there is nothing Italian about Italian Cream Cake. What I do know is that it's delicious! This recipe came from my mother - it is one of my favorite cakes that she makes (and she makes a lot of good cakes!).

Two things about this recipe - one, it came from Cooking Light, but you'd never know it! And two, it has a slight hint of coconut (from coconut extract), but even several of my anti-coconut friends have loved this cake.

And the icing on the cake? Cream cheese frosting! (And of course having all four of us - who live in four separate states - together for an evening of wine, gabbing, and stuffing face with cake!)

Italian Cream Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pans). Line bottoms of cake pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray, dust with flour, and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until butter is creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine 2 cups flour and baking soda; stir well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix in coconut extract and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat). Fold egg whites into batter and pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 5 minutes on wire racks. Loosen cake layers from sides of pans using a narrow metal spatula, and turn out onto wire racks. Peel off wax paper and cool completely.

Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread with cream cheese icing; top with second cake layer and spread with more icing. Add third cake layer and secure layers with a few toothpicks. Spread remaining icing over cake.

Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 ½ tablespoons butter, softened
• 12 ounces Neufchatel cheese
• 1 ½ pounds powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese at high speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar. Add vanilla extract. Beat at low speed until blended.