Italian Cream Bundt Cake- Doctored Cake Mix
This moist Italian Cream Bundt Cake has amazing flavor from a combination coconut, pecans, and cream cheese frosting! Nobody would guess that it starts with a cake mix!
Servings: 15
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix. Do not follow directions on the box- use only the ingredients listed below. We used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Classic Yellow cake mix, 15.25 oz.
- 1 cup cake flour or all-purpose flour (114g)
- 1 cup sugar (200g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1 cup sour cream (you can substitute with plain or Greek yogurt) (242g)
- ¼ cup Canola Oil (54g)
- 1 cup water (242g)
- 3 whole eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 1 cup flaked sweetened coconut (75g)(We used Baker's Angel Flake Sweetened Coconut)
- ¾ cup chopped pecans (127g)
Cream Cheese Frosting (This is a half batch of our frosting recipe)
- 1 stick unsalted butter,softened (113g) (Should still be slightly firm but easily dents when pressed.)
- 8 oz Cream cheese, softened, full fat. We used one 8 oz block of full fat cream cheese.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (1g)
- 3 to 3 ½ cups powdered sugar (345g-373g)
- *Optional: Crushed Pecans to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup Bundt Cake Pan - see note below
- In the bowl of your mixer, add the cake mix, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk for 30 seconds to blend.
- Add the sour cream, water, eggs, oil and vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Increase to medium speed and mix for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for for the second minute.
- Stir in the coconut and nuts and pour into prepared bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
- Test for doneness with a toothpick or long skewer. The cake will be done when the toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.
- The recipes makes 6 ½ cups batter. We used a 10 cup bundt pan. If using a 12 cup bundt pan the baking time will be a less so check at 40 minutes, keep an eye on it.
- For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
- Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
- Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
- Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
- Decorating the CakeApply the frosting however you like! We took ours only about halfway down. I piped chunky beads of frosting with a round tip 12 vertically all the way around before spreading on the frosting above it. Then I sprinkled on crushed pecans.
- **Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake should be refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator a few hours before serving to allow the cake to warm & soften for best taste and texture.
Notes
NOTES: To determine the baking capacity of your bundt pan, click on the link below. The batter in my 10 cup bundt pan came to within 1 ¼ inches from the top of the pan.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2016/08/02/bundt-pan-size
4/24- The amount of oil and pecans have been slightly adjusted. (Vegetable oil from 2 Tablespoons to ¼ cup, and pecans from ½ cup to ¾ cup.)