I have a groom's cake to do for August 6th... the mother of the groom contacted me via internet (we've talked by phone too) to do a 2 tiered grooms cake in italian cream with cream cheese icing. Now here's the dilemma... I tried out a recipe from the CMD cupcake book... I thought, if it worked for cupcakes it should work in a cake.. Well it tastes wonderful, but when you slice it, it tends to crumble a lot.. I believe it's from using 7 ounces of coconut and a cup of pecans. As far as taste, it's wonderful.. I made the crusting cream cheese icing recipe I got from the recipe section on here for the icing on the cake and it too is wonderful.. I'm just worried about the cake crumbling so bad when cut .. I'm not sure if this would upset the mother of the groom and I'm not sure if I change recipes, if that would even help ... does anyone have a tried/true recipe or know or have any other suggestions of what to do? PLEASE HELP!

Just a thought from a newbie.....you might try adding a tub of frosting to the cake batter (for example, duncan hines cream cheese flavor). It would probably help hold the cake together better, but with the cream cheese frosting on the outside, it wouldn't change the flavor too much. Just a thought...

I've never done that before Misdawn .. can you let me know how much of what to add to the cake mix? Have you tried this before?

I did it with a butter pecan cake. I just dumped the whole tub of frosting into the mix and added everything just like the recipe called for. It made it just a little bit more dense and I had a lot less crumbs to deal with. It was great! adn SUPERMOIST

I think MisDawn has a great suggestion. I found these links that you could experiment with too. I have a cake cookbook and I will see if I can find it...we just moved. I know it has a good recipe in there!
traci
http://southernfood.about.com/od/coconutcakes/r/bln329.htm
http://fruitpages.recipezaar.com/4584
http://www.newitalianrecipes.com/Italian-cream-cake.html

That may work for me then Misdawn ... I definitely need more dense as the coconut and pecans tend to make it want to crumble.. the recipe I used was awesome in taste, but again, I worry about the way it crumbles when cut.. it would make it too hard to serve and messy too .. I wouldn't want them to be upset with me about that even though it tastes great!

My DH, my stepson, my sister, my BIL and my nephew all loved the cake, but as my sister and I was discussing the crumbling problem, the recipe I used, just won't work!

Thanks too Traci for the recipes... I've printed them all out .. my husband and stepson will be the sample tasters again this weekend!! If you find the others, that'd be great too.. I'll look over them all and try them out... I'm going to try out the tub of icing in the cake mix too.. never tried that before but if it makes the cake more dense, maybe that'll work too!!

Thanks again ladies!

When I have made the CMD Brides white cake I found it to be a bit crumbly so I substituted oil for 1/2 the butter and that really helped hold it together without making it too dense.

Cindy

Good luck! Post pics when you're done!

Thanks crp7.. I may try that too and substitute oil instead of butter in it

ntertayneme, Do you freeze your cakes? I do this with all my wedding cakes. It helps to tighten the crumb and makes them much esier to cut, and wonerfully moist. This might help. No one has ever guessed they were frozen, and they always compliment the freshness and the taste.

I have frozen in the past, yes peacockplace.. I'm not sure if freezing would help with this one .. I really think it's crumbling because of the coconut and the pecans.. I think maybe I put too much coconut, but I'm not sure ... it could be a combination of both .. It's a different kind of crumbly than one that's just not moist enough.. it holds together well when you turn it out and flip one layer on top of the other to icing.. it's just when you cut it, it tends to fall/crumble down .. I think it's the weight of the coconut, or maybe the coconut itself when you're pressing through with the knife to cut that it's tearing instead of slicing throught it.. not sure if that makes sense lol .. I think I'm going to try Misdawn's suggestion and put a tub of icing into it..

Misdawn, what kind of icing did you use? I wonder if I could or should try cream cheese or just a vanilla?

since you are making a cream cheese frostinf for the outside, I suggst using cream cheese flavored frosting. I would be afraid the vnilla frosting might change the flavor of the cake.

You guys got me sweating now...I have a huge wedding cake coming up in a couple of weeks that they want to be italian creme cake...I hadn't really thought too much about it till now as far as the crumbliness.

I think mine was from the coconut really KayDay.. when I'd slice into it, I think the problem was the coconut kind of dragging through the cake itself and causing it to crumble .. I think maybe a denser cake would work better.. I'm going to experiment again this weekend on it .. the groom's cake is for the weekend of August 6th so I have to find a cake that I'm happy with and tastes good .. I'll try Misdawn's secret and see how that works

I think I might try it too as my Italiam Creme Cake is sometimes crumbly too and I think I will add a little less coconut to be on the safe side! The people I am doing that job for are SO PICKY, I can't afford the least mistake!

Me either KayDay!! lol And I really feel the people I'm making this for will be extremely PICKY!! I'm going to try mine using less coconut and maybe just a bit less pecans in it ... I'm also going to try adding the tub of icing like Misdawn suggested since it made her cake more dense... maybe the combination of the 2 will make it hold together better.. let me know what you try and how yours comes out!! I'm getting rather nervous about this one and hope mine won't crumble too bad!!

I have never heard of the tub of icing idea...but it sounds really yummy! I think you should go with the cream cheese icing. Let us know how it turns out...it sounds so good...I think I want to make a practice cake!!!
traci

Here is another recipe I found using a white cake mix...one more you can try if the others do not work out!

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/29/Easy_Italian_Cream_Cake46018.shtml

If you want a denser cake you could also try adding a box of pudding and/or an extra cake. I always adding pudding to my cakes. It makes them a little more dense and hardly any crumbs.

The Cake Mix Doctor has a cake receipt that calls for a tup of frosting in the cake mix. All I remember is that it was a chocolate cake. My friend's mother made it one night when I was over there and it was very good and moist. YUUMMMMMMY

bj

Well, you may want to use a finer coconut, a more moist type that is shredded finer. What kind of coconut does your recipe call for? Also, if you grind up your pecans more, this helps a lot. When I make carrot cakes for weddings, I really chop the nuts fine by using a food processor so they are more ground than chopped. It make the cake easier to cut. I would have to agree with this type of cake that freezing really helps to set the crumb.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes