Quick Italian Cream Cake

So after my taste testing, I set out to make this cake at home. Traditionally an Italian cream cake is made with a combination of butter and shortening. I wanted to be sure that I had the best version of this cake, so I actually started out with my Moist Vanilla Layer Cake, which I love, and worked from there. After adjusting for the various ingredients needed for this cake, what resulted was quite similar to the other recipes that you would find for this cake. The primary ingredients I played around with where the butter versus shortening and the flavorings.

I personally felt that the butter and shortening combination lent a flavor that slightly better complemented the pecans and coconut. That said, the all butter version was just fine and will work if you truly don’t want to you use shortening.

The other thing I preferred was the addition of just a touch of almond extract. Not enough to take over the cake at all, but just enough to ramp up the flavor a tad. It leaves you thinking, “What is that yummy little bit of extra flavor?” Unless you give away your secret, no one will ever know. Of course you could leave it out, if you prefer.