Italian Cream Cake

Submitted by shells75

"I got the recipe from Cooking Light magazine. This was listed in the top 10 best recipes of all time. It's wonderful."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 23mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• cream cheese frosting
• cooking spray
• 2 cups sugar
• 1⁄2 cup light butter (I'm not sure what they are referring to so I just use regular butter)
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1⁄2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon butter flavor extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
• lemon rind (optional)

• Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 tablespoon light butter, chilled
• 1 (8 ounce) package neufchatel cheese, chilled
• 1 (1 lb) package powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions

1. Prepare Cream Cheese icing; cover and chill.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Coat bottoms of 3 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pans), and line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray. Dust with flour; set aside.
4. Combine sugar and butter in large bowl; beat at medium spped of a mixer until well blended. Add egg yolks one at a time beating well after each addition. Combine flour and baking soda; stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in pecans and extracts.
5. Beat egg whites at high speed of a mixture until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat). Fold egg whites into batter; pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes. Let cool in pans 5 minutes on a wire rack. Loosen cake layers from sides of pans using a narrow metal spatula; turn out onto wire racks. Peel off wax paper; let cool completely.
6. Place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread with 2/3 cup Cream Cheese Icing; top with another cake layer. Repeat with 2/3 cup icing and remaining layer, ending with cake layer. Spread remaining icing over sides and top of cake. Garnish with lemon rind, if desired.
7. Cream Cheese Icing:.
8. Beat butter and cheese at high speed of a mixer until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla; beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat or icing will become runny). Cover and chill. Yield: 2 2/3 cups.