Italian Cream Cake has three layers of moist cake covered in cream cheese frosting with plenty of coconut and pecans. It’s not hard at all to make and is perfect for a holiday celebration.

But let’s just start by saying that Italian Cream Cake isn’t exactly Italian. It’s more of a southern thing. I’m not really sure what the origin of it is, but I know it has been very popular in the south for years and I mostly associate it with Christmas.

Every year my mother was in charge of making this cake for an annual Christmas Eve Party at her friend’s house. The cake would be lit with candles and we’d all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Coconut and Pecan Combination

The combination of coconut and pecans is what really makes this cake special. In this recipe the coconut is added to the batter, but I’ve eaten plenty of Italian Cream Cakes with coconut in the frosting. Lots of chopped pecans are in both the batter and the frosting. Be sure to finely chop them or you’ll have a heck of a time spreading the frosting.
This cake has quite a few eggs in it. Five to be exact. The eggs are separated and the egg whites are beaten to stiff peaks and then folded into the batter, helping to give it a light texture.

Recipe Tip

A good tip for beating egg whites is to separate them when they are cold and then let them sit at room temperature before you beat them. You’ll have a much easier time separating cold eggs...