Italian Cream Cake

I recently baked my first cake from scratch for my friend Dia's birthday. It was an italian cream cake and it was DELICIOUS! I used this recipe from allrecipes.com and used some of the suggestions offered up by the user HJONES999 in the review section.

P.S. Don't look at the caloric content on the recipe site... ;)

Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons light cream (I only had half & half so I used that instead)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place parchment paper in three 9" round cake pans.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup shortening, and 2 cups white sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs yokes and 1 tsp vanilla.
4. Mix 2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Alternate adding small amounts of the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into the butter & sugar mixture.
5. Add 1 cup flaked coconut. (you can also add in additional walnuts here if you like nuts in your cake)
6. Peak 5 egg whites in separate bowl until a stiff peak forms. Fold egg whites into cake mixture. 
7. Pour cake mixture into three 9" round cake pans. 
8. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before icing.

For Icing:
Mix together 8 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 4 cups confectioners' sugar until creamy. Add in cream until desired texture is reached. mix in walnuts and coconut. Ice cake between layers and on outside of cake.

Enjoy!