Quick Italian Cream Cake

Another birthday party! And once again I begged to make the cake. 

Bradley's mother celebrated a birthday on Saturday so we had the family over for a little birthday party. I cooked a lovely dinner, then we finished up with a fabulous birthday cake for dessert.

I chose the Quick Italian Cream Cake because there is a picture in the cookbook and it looks amazing. 

I can't believe how easy it was to make. You use a box cake mix instead of measuring out flour and baking powder etc., then add a few extra ingredients that make it taste homemade. This one was another triple decker, but I figured out a way to lay each layer so they wouldn't slide. You probably already knew this, but you have to match up the two flat sides for the bottom two layers then put the flat side down for the top layer. I made it on Friday and stored it in an air-tight container for Saturday. 

Here it is:

The red says "happy birthday," you can barely see it. 

Yup, that's right, I toasted coconut to go on top. It has a cream cheese icing, toasted pecans and coconut, and a butter pecan'ish center. Very light and moist. I would definitely make this again!

Ready to sing Happy Birthday!

Center view

Soux Chef gives this:

I give it two thumbs up also! It tasted like I spent all day baking it, but it really only took about 30 min. Toasting the coconut was the hardest part...You have to be very careful when toasting the coconut. When it looks like it's almost done, it only takes 1 more minute, any longer and it will burn. 

Birthday girl thought it was delicious as well. I didn't know this when picking out the recipe, but the Richmond family has a special coconut cream cake recipe that has been in the family a long time, so they are all partial to that recipe. This one is much easier though, and the frosting has three tablespoons of butter compared to an entire stick!