This Italian Cream Cake is hands down one of the fluffiest and most moist versions you’ll ever try! With ultra-tender coconut, pecan cake layers with a hint of almond flavor, all topped with a smooth and tangy cream cheese frosting—a true Southern classic!
What is Italian Cream Cake?
Italian Cream Cake is a classic Southern dessert that’s rich, moist, and irresistibly decadent. Despite its name, this cake isn’t actually from Italy! It features tender coconut and pecan cake layers with a hint of almond flavor—all coated in a creamy, tangy cream cheese frosting. How incredible does that sound?!
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
When developing this recipe, I wanted to make the cake as simple as possible while still delivering the classic fluffy texture Italian Cream Cakes are known for. Here’s what I think you’re going to love:
Authentic Recipe – This Italian Cream Cake follows the traditional method of whipping egg whites to stiff peaks and folding them into the batter at the end. This crucial step adds lightness and helps create the cake’s tender, airy texture. Honestly, I don’t know why more cakes aren’t made this way!
Moist & Tender – This recipe uses a combination of butter, oil, and buttermilk to achieve a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture that you’re going to love. I also opted to use a bit of cornstarch (in place of some of the all-purpose flour) to make the cake layers extra tender!
Simple – I opted for a two-layer cake to make it more approachable and easier to prepare. If you’d prefer a three-layer version, simply multiply the recipe by 1.5!
How to Make Italian Cream Cake
You can find the full list of ingredients for this Italian cream cake recipe in the recipe card at the end of the blog post (for easy navigation, hit the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post). Here is a quick visual breakdown of the recipe (recipe video is also provided in the recipe card below).
Cake Layers
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8-inch round cake pans (I use my homemade cake release to grease my pans). Also line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside for now.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a whisk, mix until well combined and set aside for now.
In a large mixing bowl add in unsalted butter, oil and sugar. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium-high speed, cream that for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Next add egg yolks and mix on a low speed until well combined.
Next, add the vanilla, almond extract/essence, and buttermilk. Stir on low speed until the ingredients are well combined. Scrape any batter off the attachments, as the rest of the initial mixing will be done by hand.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and using a spatula, gently fold until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
Next add in shredded coconut and roughly chopped pecans and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix. Set the batter aside for now.
Add the egg whites to a thoroughly cleaned bowl. Using an electric mixer (ensure the attachments are cleaned thoroughly), whip on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about 2–3 minutes.
Add ⅓ of the egg whites to the cake batter and gently fold with a spatula until almost combined, being careful not to push out too many air bubbles. Once done, add the remaining egg whites to the batter and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
Distribute the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes (cook time may vary based on oven), or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Allow to cool in the tins for 20 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Once the cakes are cool, prepare the cream cheese frosting as per the blog post instructions. It’s a super easy, standard cream cheese frosting recipe (butter, powdered sugar/confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and lemon juice) that isn’t overly sweet— you don’t want to skip it 😀
Assembly
Level the tops of the cake layers. I also like to trim off the caramelized edges (this is optional). Place the first cake layer onto your cake stand/serving plate and spread out a generous amount of frosting (I use my offset spatula).
Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand and spread out a generous amont of frosting on the top (I use my offset spatula).
Place your next cake layer on top and spread out a generous amount of frosting on the top and sides. You can use a cake scraper to smooth out the sides (see video demonstration).
Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip on it and pipe swirls around the top of the cake. I then like to place a pecan on top of each swirl and roughly scatter some finely chopped pecans on the top. Slice and enjoy!
How to Store Italian Cream Cake
This cake can be left out at room temperature for about half a day, but due to the cream cheese, it will need to be refrigerated after that/overnight. Place in an airtight container before putting it in the fridge to prevent the cake from drying out. For more tips on how to best store a cake in the fridge and prevent it from drying out, check out my blog post on 3 uncommon baking tips.
Moist Italian Cream Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 6 tbsp (78 g) unflavored vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1⅓ cups (266 g) white granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs (whites and yolks separated) - room temperature
- 2½ tsps vanilla extract/essence
- ¼ tsp almond extract/essence
- ¾ cup (170 g) buttermilk - room temperature
- ¾ cup (60 g) shredded coconut - unsweetened, dried
- ¾ cup (75 g) pecans - roughly chopped
- 1 batch cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) conventional (see note 1 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8-inch cake pans (I use my homemade cake release to grease my pans). Also line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside for now.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a whisk, mix until well combined and set aside for now.
- In a large bowl add in unsalted butter, oil and sugar. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium-high speed, cream that for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Next add egg yolks and mix on a low speed until well combined.
- Next, add the vanilla, almond extract/essence, and buttermilk. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are well combined. Scrape any batter off the attachments, as the rest of the initial mixing will be done by hand.
- Add the presifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and using a spatula, gently fold until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
- Next add in shredded coconut and roughly chopped pecans and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix. Set the batter aside for now.
- Add the egg whites to a thoroughly cleaned bowl (see note 2). Using an electric mixer (ensure the attachments are cleaned thoroughly), whip on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about 2–3 minutes.
- Add ⅓ of the egg whites to the cake batter and gently fold with a spatula until almost combined, being careful not to push out too many air bubbles. Once done, add the remaining egg whites to the batter and gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Distribute the batter between the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Allow to cool in the tins for 20 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
- Once the cakes are cool, prepare the cream cheese frosting and assemble. See blog post above or recipe video to see how I assemble mine 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
34 Comments
Can you put the mixture in the freezer? Thank you
Hi Grace! 🙂
Do you mean the batter? I would not recommend freezing the batter unfortunately, however the baked cake layers should freeze okay if wrapped well in cling wrap and placed into an airtight container before freezing 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
This cake was insanely delicious. My neighbor had 3 big slices, 2 of which were eaten on the same day. Everyone loved it. The crumb is tender and moist. I’m not a fan of cream cheese frosting, but this was so was good and tangy, and went well with the cake.
I’ve never had a miss with your recipes. So good!
Thank you!
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback Eileen 😀
So glad you loved the recipe and the extra tang in the cream cheese frosting too!
I tried 4 of your cakes for my son’s birthday and everyone couldn’t stop eating. I layered your chocolate, biscoff, cookies and cream and vanilla with a SMBC and biscoff drip.
Amazing
Aww yay! So happy to hear everyone loved the cakes Kess 😀
That cake with the different layers sounds epic!! Hope your son had a wonderful birthday 🙂
In lieu of placing the batter in 2 cake pans, can I use a Tube Pan & adjust the baking time. It is so much easier to cut slices & serve.
Hi Candida! 🙂
I haven’t tried that myself, but in general I don’t recommend putting too much batter into one tin as the cake layers are quite soft/tender (when made as two 8 inch cakes) so may not bake up well as one taller cake/loaf. In saying that, it may work okay for this recipe, just can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried it myself sorry! Would love to hear how it goes though if you decide to give it a go 🙂
Hi Maryam, lovely cake and a beautiful smile! May I please ask what else, in your opinion, would work well instead of coconut/pecans? Some family members don’t like those. What other variations would be suitable? Thank you, lovely x
Hi Julia! Aww thank you so much 😀
You could use walnuts instead or even other nuts like unsalted almonds or cashew nuts 🙂
I also have a lot of other cake recipes with different ingredient combinations you can check out here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe-category/cakes/
Hope that helps!
This is about the fifth cake recipe created by you that I’ve tried. You are, hands down, a cake master! I have never had cakes turn out so well and now I know why. Your recipes and directions are meticulous and it makes all the difference. I also want you to know that I have to bake gluten free and even when using a cup-to-cup ratio flour in place of traditional flour, your recipes work!! I have used several different brands of flour and I even create my own cup-to-cup flour; doesn’t matter, your recipes turn out. You are truly talented and I really appreciate your instructional videos as well.
Aww this makes me so so happy Toni! So glad you’re loving the recipes and that your cakes are turning out wonderfully! So awesome to hear the recipes are working great with gluten free flour too 🙂
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 😀
Hi , can I substitute eggs with yogurt?
Hi Nadia 🙂
Unfortunately I haven’t tried that myself so I’m not too sure if it would work well sorry! The eggs help to bind the cakes and gives them their structure, so I’m not sure if yoghurt alone will be enough.
Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Can this cake be made ahead of time and frozen? It looks delicious!
Hi Cynthia! 🙂 I haven’t tried freezing these cake layers myself, but if the cake layers are wrapped well in clingwrap and placed into an airtight container before freezing, they should be fine! Just pull them out to thaw the night before you’re going to assemble the cake. Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
This Italian Cream Cake recipe looks divine! I appreciate the detailed steps for folding the egg whites to maintain the airy texture—it’s such a crucial step for a light and fluffy cake.
Thanks so much Ayesha! Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
You are the best all my baking is a hit thank u MK for yr amazing teaching & sharing easy steps easy measurements easy easy explanations lots of love ❤️
Aww thank you so much Tracy! So glad you’re loving the recipes 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂