Italian Cream Bundt Cake

I bought a bundt pan back in December so I could make sticky buns Christmas morning. So, when I saw a recipe for Italian Cream cake (which I love) in a bundt pan... I knew it was time to pull out the bundt pan for the second time. Glad I did. This is wonderful!

1 stick of butter
2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
1/2 c olive oil
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 c low fat buttermilk
1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c finely-chopped walnuts
5 egg whites (beat until stiff peaks)

For the icing:
1 block red-fat cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, cream together sugar and butter, then add vanilla extract. Then, add the 5 separated egg yolks and olive oil, and mix and beat until fluffy. In a separate bowl, prepare the dry ingredients-  the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk - add about 1/4 c at a time. Next, mix in the walnuts and coconut.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they have stiff peaks - I had no clue what that meant so I googled it. :) Then, with a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter using the figure 8 pattern. Spoon the batter into a greased bundt pan as evenly as possible. Bake for about 1 hour.

To make the icing: Beat together all the ingredients, then drizzle over cake. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Original recipe found here.