Snowball Cake

Hello CIS readers! I am so sorry I have been away for over a week now! That is totally not like me at all, but I have had a few more important things than baking going on with my family so my sugar cravings have taken a back seat lately. Lucky for you I had made this Snowball cake a few weeks ago for my friend Renie's birthday, but hadn't posted it yet. I am back home in KY right now and there were a few snow flurries on Tuesday so I figured there was still time to post a cake related to snow before Spring arrives!

I decided to make 2 sizes of the snowball cake from the same recipe. One small. One large.

Afterall, I needed to have one cake to cut into for photo purposes right? Or was it taste testing?

And the large cake was taken to my friend Renie's birthday party!

I got the inspiration for this cake from the Kraft Food & Family Magazine Snowball Cake. Although their chocolate cake & creamy filling looked delicious, I decided instead that my family's Italian Cream Cake recipe would be absolutely perfect since it contained coconut inside the cake and would pair nicely with a coconut garnish on the outside of the cake.

The end result was a moist and light cake with a fluffy coconut topping that definitely reminded me of a big pile of snow. Typically when I make this cake I garnish the top with walnuts, but I must admit I loved the extra coconut on the outside this time around! You have gotta try this recipe!

Snowball Cake (Italian Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Icing)

For the Cake

Ingredients:
-1 stick butter, softened
-2 cups sugar
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 cup buttermilk
-1 bag (14 oz) flaked coconut (use 1/2 cup for cake, remaining for garnish)
-5 egg whites, stiffly beaten
-1/2 cup vegetable shortening
-5 egg yolks
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts

• In large bowl, cream butter and shortening with electric mixer.
• Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is smooth.
• Add egg yolks and beat well.
• Combine flour and baking soda. Add alternately with buttermilk and scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
• Stir in vanilla, 1/2 cup coconut and walnuts.
• Fold in beaten egg whites.
• Pour batter into greased large Pyrex glass bowl.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until cake tests done. (This cake can also be baked in three 8-inch round cake pans for 25 minutes)
• Allow cake to cool in bowl for about 20 minutes, then flip out onto cake plate to continue cooling.

For the Icing

Ingredients:
-1 stick butter, softened
-1 8 oz block Cream Cheese, softened
-5 cups confectioners' sugar
-1 tsp vanilla

• In bowl, mix butter and cream cheese with electric mixture until creamy.
• Gradually add in confectioners' sugar beating well after each addition.
• Mix in vanilla.
• Frost cake with icing and garnish with remaining coconut flakes to create "Snowball" look.
• Add a decorative flag on top labeled as "Snowball Cake" to finish off the cake.

Have you ever baked a cake in a bowl? If so what recipe did you use?