Speckled Egg Italian Cream Cake

(please excuse my dry wrinkly dish washing hands)

I don't know about you but my personal favorite part about Easter is not hanging out with family or gathering around the table for some lousy cold hard boiled eggs. Nah. It's definitely the whopper eggs! (Just kidding family) but really look at these things! They're colorful, they melt in your mouth and most importantly - they're covered in chocolate! With this as my inspiration I decided to make an Italian Cream Cake but you could do this design with almost any cake recipe.

This is not just any recipe, this cake was passed down to me from a wise elderly woman in my old church. Every pot luck we had she would bring this delicious, moist, flavorful cake and I kept bugging her until she finally handed over the goods...in fact, I am glad she's old because I probably wouldn't want her to find this on the internet (shhhhh).

Italian Cream Cake

1 stick butter (softened)
1/2 crisco
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups AP flour
5 eggs (separated)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2.Cream butter, crisco, and sugar. Add egg YOLKS, flour, baking soda, buttermilk, nuts, coconut, vanilla and mix until incorporated.

3.Beat egg whites in a separate bowls until stiff (they form peaks when you lift the beaters) and fold egg whites into batter. Do NOT over mix.

4.Bake in three separate pans sprayed with Bakers Joy and bake for 20-25min.

Frosting

1 package of cream cheese (8oz)
1 stick butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 box confectioners sugar

Method:

1.Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add sugar and slowly beat until smooth.

2.Add food coloring as desired

for speckled effect...

Take 2tsp vanilla extract and mix in 1 tsp of cocoa powder making sure the cocoa had been fully incorporated. Take a clean paintbrush and dip in mixture. Carefully flick the brush all over the cake. I personally tap the brush against my finger and find it easier.

What are some of your food traditions for the Easter holiday?