When my mother-in-law, Ninny, makes a cake, it is always from scratch.  She’s from the generation where homemade cake doesn’t mean homemade from a mix, it means she actually makes the entire thing herself from start to finish.   This year she was making her youngest grandson an Italian Cream Cake.  I couldn’t let it pass without pictures.

Here are the ingredients for Ninny’s Prize Winning Italian Cream Cake

• 2 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. shortening
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1 C. buttermilk
• 2 C. flour
• 1 C. chopped pecans
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 5 eggs (separate yellows and whites)
• 2 C. coconut

Cream together sugar, shortening, and margarine.

Add beaten egg yolks and vanilla.

Add buttermilk with dry ingredients. (flour, soda, salt) Do half at a time.

Fold in beaten egg whites and add coconuts and pecans.

Bake @ 325° for 30 to 35 minutes. She used a 9×13 pan but these are really moist and amazing when you use round pans and layer them.

Baking.

Now for the best part…the frosting. (or filling, as Ninny calls it)

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 stick margarine
• 1 lb box of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix these together and beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cake. *Optional* Sprinkle chopped pecans, coconuts, or both on cake.

Ninny, looking at her masterpiece.

20 years young

And Many More.