Have you ever hummed and patted your feet when eating cake?  If not, this cake will start you to humming and patting your feet to the yummy cake tune in your head!

ITALIAN CREAM CAKE

I started testing and creating this recipe some 10-years ago.  I bought this cake monthly from Sam’s Club, they stopped making it, so I had to make it myself.

1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup buttermilk, 5 eggs, separated, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 sticks salted butter, soft, 2 cups cake flour, sifted 2-times 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped, 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped, 1 cup  sweetened coconut flakes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans, set aside.  In a bowl add the buttermilk and baking soda, mix well and set aside.  In another bowl, separate the eggs whites from the yolks.  Beat the egg white until they are stiff and peak, set aside. One more bowl, cream the sugar and butter.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Now its time to add the wet (buttermilk) and dry (flour) together.  Alternate wet to dry, starting with and ending with wet.  Add the vanilla and fold in the egg whites.   Add the nuts and coconut.  Evenly distribute the batter into the cake pans.  Bake for approximately 20-minutes or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Remove from the oven cool on a wire rack.  When the cake cools, add the icing.

Icing: 2 sticks salted butter, 2 (8oz.) package cream cheese, softened, 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar, 2 cups pecans, chopped.  In a large bowl cream the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.  Add the vanilla.  Gradually add the sugar and beat well.  Frost the cake, sprinkle the nuts on the top layer