Saturday, August 16, 2008

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

It has been a year since my husband and I were married...although it seems like longer. We live our lives day to day working and taking care of our two boys - time just passes so quickly. So much has happened in the past year.


We didn't do anything special for our anniversary - just dinner with my parents. We ran around the day before purchasing my husband a new wedding band, as his original band is titanium and cannot be sized - it seems to be too big. I got a food processor as my anniversary gift. I have been wanting one for forever - now, I just need to find a reason to use it. When I was looking at food processors online I actually found that there are cookbooks with recipes which specifically call for the use of a food processor. I may need to look into that.


On our wedding day, our wedding cake was an Italian Cream Cake. We didn't save the top layer - didn't have the space in the freezer to store something for a year. With my recent interest in cooking and baking and trying new things - I thought that I would make an Italian Cream cake for our anniversary. It turned out really well!! I was impressed with myself especially since both of my parents agreed that it was much better tasting than my wedding cake.


Italian Cream Cake

· 2 cups flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 cup shortening
· 1/2 cup butter
· 2 cups sugar
· 6 egg yolks
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cup buttermilk
· 1-1/2 cup flaked coconut, lightly toasted
· 6 eggs whites

· Frosting:
· 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
· 1 pound powdered sugar
· 1/2 cup butter, softened
· 1teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cups chopped pecans, lightly toasted
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch round cake pans. With a wire whisk combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time. Flour mixture is added alternately with buttermilk. Stir in coconut. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold whites into cake batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes.
Cool cake layers in pans for 5 minutes. Remove to cool completely on racks. Blend together cream cheese, butter. Add powdered sugar a little at a time. Stir in vanilla. Place bottom layer on serving plate. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with 1/4-cup nuts. Top with next layer. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with another 1/4 cup of nuts. Place top layer on middle layer. Ice sides of cake with half of remaining icing. Frost top of cake with last of the frosting. Sprinkle remaining nuts all over the cake.