Italian Cream Cake Recipe

¼ pound ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, separated and room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1-cup buttermilk
1 cup sweetened coconut
1-cup pecan pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans by greasing them, lining the bottoms with parchment paper, and the greasing the paper. Flour pans and set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and shortening. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Continue beating until the batter is light and fluffy again. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda and add to the batter, alternately, with buttermilk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix on low speed until the batter is smooth. Stir in coconut and pecan pieces. In a medium bowl, using an electric hand-held mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff and fold them gently into the batter.

Pour the mixture evenly into the cake pans. Bake on center rack in over for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the layers cool completely on a wire rack before removing them from the pans and peeing off the parchment paper. Then frost the layers with Universal White Frosting.

Universal White Frosting to follow:
This recipe is from my favorite book: Stressed is Just DESSERTS spelled Backwards by Sheryl Meddin and Bennett Frisch. This recipe is on page 8.