Italian Cream Cake, for me and the boys who won't eat it.

Last week Mike was TDY (on a temporary duty assignment) for a week.  He left the day after Halloween, and event the boys returned from with full buckets of candy.  We all should have been happy as larks, putting our hands in the candy buckets for whatever we might desire.  However, the Clemens clan are just not that simple.  No, no.  Jackson and Max, they only really like Kit Kats, M&Ms, and sometimes, the occasional Milky Way.  And Daddy was leaving for the week.  And Mommy...  well, Mommy wanted Italian Cream Cake when there was a bucket of Halloween candy.  

So, I made one.  I used to have an amazing recipe for one, which was given to me by a patient's wife at the hospital.  It is the only recipe I have ever lost and I notice it's absence.  

But I thought I would give another recipe a whirl.  Pioneer Woman.  I think this recipe is in her second cookbook.  Max helped me mix all the ingredients together.  He had fun because he got to watch the egg whites be whipped until they formed peaks.  Basically, it is a vanilla cake and then you throw in some coconut.  Of course, Max wanted to lick the beater and when he did, he got some coconut on his tongue.  At first, I could tell he liked the flavor, but then that piece of coconut threw him off and he looked like he just wanted to spit.  

Anyway, I baked the cakes and made the frosting and put it all together.  I savored a piece that first night and then gave a huge hunk of cake to my friend Sonia and her family.  Of course, neither of the boys will eat this cake, given that it has both coconut and pecans in it. So, after giving some to Sonia, I still had half a cake left.  I ate just two more pieces and by then, the cake had been in the fridge for about 6 days.  Time to get rid of it...  Before Mike came home and complained about the lack of space in the fridge because of the big cake container.  

It was not as good as the other Italian Cream Cake, which is hard to believe considering it is a Pioneer Woman recipe.  I have not had something else of hers that I didn't like.  

Next up?  I am thinking about Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.  I have not made them before, but a friend has and they were delish.  So, I figure, they are worth a try!