Guest Author - Sandra L. Garth

Searching for the history of this Southern American classic was like trying to get into Ft. Knox. The closet thing to an origin of the recipe is that it was created by an Italian baker, living in the United States. Maybe it’s just one of those instances where we should just eat the cake.


½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 TBS vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup coconut
Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting
Pecan halves, optional



Preheat oven to 350° F, then grease and flour 3 - 9” pans and set aside. Combine butter and shortening in a large bowl and cream on medium speed of an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Don’t shortcut this step, and make sure the butter is nice and soft. It’s best to have had the butter sitting at room temperature for a couple of hours. In a slow steady stream, add the sugar, beating well. Add the egg yolks one at a time making sure each is blended before adding the next; then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour and soda in a bowl and give them a quick whisk to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry goods, mixing at low speed. Stir in the coconut.

Wash beaters in hot soapy water and the dry them. In a large bowl that is completely grease free, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; then fold into batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans and continue cooling on wax paper lined wire racks.

Spread Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on the top and sides of cake. Garnish with pecan halves if desired.



Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
1 TBS vanilla
(16 oz) packaged powdered sugar, sifted

In a small pan roast the pecans at 350° F for about 5-10 minutes or until toasted, and let them cool. This may seem like an unnecessary step but it’s worth it. Roasting the nuts really heightens their flavor.

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla at medium-high speed of an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Remember the hint about making sure the butter is completely softened; this applies to the cream cheese as well. Add sugar 2 cups at a time on low speed until blended, then beat at high speed until smooth. Stir in pecans.