Italian Cream Cake

Total Time: 1 hr 23 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 23 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 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)
• 1 tablespoon light butter, chilled
• 1 (8 ounce) package neufchatel cheese, chilled
• 1 (1 lb) package powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe

• 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.