by Janis and Jennifer Francis

One of the many {many} things I love about food is that you can experience an array of memories around a certain recipe. The smell. The taste. It can all take you back so vividly to a time a place in your memory.

This recipe I am sharing today does just that for my family and me. My maternal grandmother, MeMaw, passed away 7 years ago. While we miss her dearly, especially on special days such as Sunday, her memory is still alive in our hearts and minds, and it is alive in our kitchens when we make some of her special recipes.

Italian Cream Cake was one of her “go-to” dessert recipe. She often made it as birthday cakes for her family and as our dessert for holidays and family gatherings. This was even the recipe you will find next to her name in the church cookbook. You know if it’s “your recipe” in the Baptist cookbook, then it’s a special recipe!

In honor of Mother’s Day Weekend, I thought it would be a special treat to team-up with my mom to make and share my grandmother’s recipe with you all. We got together this past week and made MeMaw’s Italian Cream Cake.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! It would be a great dessert to share at your Mother’s Day celebration this weekend.

Italian Cream Cake

 

Cake:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

5 egg yolks, beaten

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 egg whites, stiffly beaten

1 can coconut (3 ounces)

1 cup chopped pecans (plus extra for topping)

 

Icing:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 lb confectioners’ sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening until mixed well. Add in sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well.Sift in flour and soda; mix well. Add buttermilk and 1 tsp vanilla; mix well.

Fold in egg whites, coconut and 1 cup pecans. Pour into 3 greased and floured 8″ round cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until cakes test done. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Combine 1/4 cup butter, cream cheese, vanilla and confectioner’s sugar in a bowl; beat well. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake.

Top cake with chopped pecans.

 

 

Jennifer is a wife, a momma of a 4 year old boy and 2 year old girl, and Director of Women’s Ministry at Cross Church Fayetteville.  

She and her crew are the family behind TheFrancisFamilyBlog.com, where Jennifer blogs about the crazy daily-happenings of their life. Some of Jennifer’s favorite things (aside from her adorable family) include working out, Sonic Cokes, and cheering on the Hogs in their hometown of Fayetteville. 

Janis is a wife, a mom to two grown girls, and “GiGi” to Brody, Jillian Kate and Elliott (arriving this summer). When she isn’t working in the business office of their church, you can find her spending time with her family and grandbabies, or riding around NW Arkansas with her husband in their classic Corvette. Although Janis doesn’t blog, she is an avid blog reader, and especially enjoys reading food and recipe blogs.