Marcia Marcia Marcia Weidenfeller!

As I sit on my comfy sofa and look out my patio door, out onto my pool and garden, I can appreciate what a beautiful backyard I have.  At the same time, I think about how fortunate most of us are compared to the people who live in the northeast part of the country.  We have shelter, food, jobs, clean water and clean clothes while many of them do not.  I try to imagine how desolate they must feel and how anxious they are to get that all back up and running and to have some normalcy in their lives.  I mean, it was that way in parts of the DFW Metroplex like Arlington and Forney and other places last year, with the bad rash of tornadoes we had one day.  We can manipulate lots of facets in our lives but weather is not (normally) one of them.  When I see the pictures of the damage caused by natural disasters, I am heartbroken at the loss of property these people experience. 

Pair that with the upcoming election and me trying to sell my house and I'm going crazy.  I've been working with this couple that want to buy my house for 4 months and twice it's been the day before and the mortgage company stops it.  I have sold most of my furniture because it's cheaper to buy new furniture than to move it so I'm living in, essentially, an empty house except for beds and a sofa.  Still, I have an intact home that I can afford and it's nice and snug and comfortable.  The election...well, that's another story.

On to other subjects...

Before I was a pastry chef, I worked as a nurse in a general practice doctors' office and on each of our birthdays, we'd have a little party and Marcia would make cake.  Marcia Weidenfeller is the sweetest person you'd ever want to meet and she is a most excellent cake baker, especially when it comes to Italian Cream cake.  I've had a few IC cakes in my life but hers is the best.  So sweet and rich and oh so very, very light and moist.  And, thankfully, it's foolproof - turns out perfect every single time.  It's been years since I had Marcia's IC cake so when I was elected to make dessert for my niece's housewarming party, I made IC cupcakes.  They were stellar.  I found they had something my grandmother called "a more-ish taste" ---- you want more!  So, I'm making one today for my handyman because he's so good to me.  I had a little extra batter so I made myself some cupcakes, Yum!  Brew up some coffee and have a slice of heaven...Here's the recipe for:

Marcia Weidenfeller's Italian Cream Cake

1 C buttermilk                                   5 eggs, separated
1 t baking soda                                  2 C AP flour
2 C sugar                                           1 t vanilla
1/2 C butter                                       1 C pecans, chopped
1/2 C shortening                               1 C coconut
Preheat oven to 325.  Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans.  Combine soda and buttermilk and let stand. Cream butter, shortening and sugar.  Add yolks, one at a time, beating well after each.  Add buttermilk alternately with flour just till combined.  Stir in vanilla.  Add the egg whites, nuts and coconut and fold in by hand.  Divide batter equally into prepared pans and bake till toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 stick butter, softened
1 lb powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese till smooth.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on low speed till combined. If it's too thick, you can add a little milk or add more powdered sugar if too thin.  Spread on cooled cake. Pat chopped nuts and coconut on sides of cake.