AMAZING Italian Cream Cake

I have tried many doctored box mix and scratch recipes for Italian Cream Cake, and finally came up with one that always gets rave reviews. It starts with the ease of a boxed mix and ends up moist, yummy, rich, and delicious. Toasted coconut flakes and pecan pieces add wonderful flavor.

AMAZING Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 box Duncan Hines Coconut Supreme cake mix
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/3 cup water
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup pecans, cookie pieces size, toasted in 350 degree oven for 5 minutes or until they smell nutty (transfer immediately from pan onto plate)
  • 3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes, toasted in 350 degree over for 7 minutes or until golden brown (transfer immediately from pan onto plate)

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients on medium speed for 3 minutes.
  2. Pour batter into greased cake pans Bake in 350 degree oven until toothpick has some crumbs clinging to it. Don’t bake it until the toothpick comes out completely clean and the sides have shrunk from the pan, or else the carryover cooking will make the cake be overbaked.
  3. This makes enough for one 8″ x 3″ round and one 6″ x 3″ round, or two tall 8″ x 3″ layers, or one tall 10″ x 3″ layer.
  4. Enjoy!
    :)

Comments (16)

on

I have been unable to find the Duncan Hines Coconut cake mixes for the past few months so have instead been using Duncan Hines White cake mixes and 2 tsp. coconut extract in place of the vanilla extract. The results have been exactly the same ~ wonderful!

on

I have never made this cake. But thoiught that I would give it a try. Is there a particular filling and icing that compliments this cake?

on

I hope this doesnt sound dumb but I just wanted to make sure I did it right....you do add the coconut and nuts back into the mix?!?!?

on

Oops, there should also be included 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream. Mix together the cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt. Add the water, eggs, oil, and coconut extract to the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and mix for another minute. Once the sour cream is incorporated, add the cooled, toasted pecan pieces and coconut. Pour into well-greased pans and bake.

on

this is my most requested cake. I LOVE this recipe and it's so easy and comes out perfect and moist every time. I usually bake the layers seperatly. I tried once to bake the hole cake and then cut/seperate the layers. The nuts in the cake make this very difficult.

on

This cake was really good! I had to read the comments to find the rest of the recipe. The texture was soft and moist. I couldn't find coconut cake mix so I used a white cake mix and added coconut bakery emulsion and it was a huge hit. The 2 tablespoons of oil was enough because the sour cream adds moisture to the cake. I made a 3 layer 8" cake with this recipe and I have also made cupcakes as well and they are good too! Thanks for this recipe it was a life saver. I will be adding this to my collection.

on

I made an 8"x3" of this tonight for a meeting tomorrow and all I can say is WOW! This recipe truly is AMAZING! I know because I made a 6" layer to keep home. I used the white cake mix with the coconut extract, it is perfect! I torted the dome and can't stop eating it, no icing needed! This goes on my list of cake choices for sure! My husband who is not a dessert fan was truly impressed. Thank you!

on

Please note that this recipe was written when the Duncan Hines cake mixes were all 18.25 ounces.  If you are using a boxed mix that is 16.5 ounces, you will need to add an additional 1/3 cup of mix PER BOX.  If you are using the ever-shrinking 15.25 ounce box of cake mix, I recommend you use a kitchen scale and add 3 ounces of mix (by weight, of course) to each box of cake mix.   It's much easier to add additional cake mix to the original recipe than scale all of the other ingredients downward to accommodate the smaller and smaller sizes of cake mixes.

on

Just made this - perfection!! One recipe filled one 10" round exactly. Baked at 325 for 1 hr, 15 minutes. Just now saw the note about the sour cream but 1st layer doesn't seem to have suffered without it so don't plan to use it for the 2nd layer either.  I did use white cake mix and coconut extract but didn't add the extra mix as suggested. Even without the additions of extra mix and sour cream, it came out great!!  

on

Has anyone tried subbing some buttermilk for the water.  It seems most of the scratch cakes call for it. 

How do you think it would turn out ?