Our shortcut version of a classic Italian cream cake uses a cake mix, but has a homemade cream cheese frosting and is topped with flaked coconut and chopped pecans.
You can ALWAYS find an Italian cream cake at my family holiday shindigs. I think everyone in my family has my grandma Barb’s highly requested Italian Cream cake recipe (and now so do you, welcome to the family!) so it really doesn’t matter who brings it. This recipe is fail-proof and always comes out tasting fabulous! 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 Italian Cream Cake is, but I know it has been very popular in the south for years and I mostly associate it with Christmas.
The cake itself is soft and moist with a super yummy vanilla-coconut-butter flavor. The frosting is a regular cream cheese frosting with coconut and pecans added to compliment the Italian cream cake. It’s delish and even if you don’t like coconut, I bet you’ll still love this cake!
I love a good boxed cake mix (Duncan Hines 4 Life!) Hey, I’m too old to be a food snob at this point. But at least I’m honest.
This Italian Cream Cake with pecans and cream cheese frosting is not to be missed, especially for those southerners out there! It’s moist, creamy, and nutty—what more could you want?
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CAKE MIX ITALIAN CREAM CAKE
INGREDIENTS
CAKE
1 (18 1/4 ounce) white cake mix
1 (3 1/2 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups water
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup chopped pecans or 1 cup walnuts, etc
2 cups flaked coconut
FROSTING
3 tablespoons butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 -2 tablespoon cream
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixer bowl add the cake mix, vanilla pudding, water, eggs, and oil.
With an electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.
Fold in the chopped nuts and coconut.
Pour the batter into a 9 x 13-inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lightly greased and floured.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the toothpick inserted off-center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.
In a medium-sized mixer bowl, blend the butter and cream cheese.
Add the confectioners’ sugar and enough cream to make it a smooth spreading consistency.
Frost cake with frosting and sprinkle with coconut