holiday cake

By momofsixplus1

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs
• sugar
• 1 1/2 cups margarine or butter(3 sticks),softened
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup dark seedless raisins
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup candied red cherries, chopped
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice

Preparation

Step 1

preheat oven to 375. grease and flour four 9-inch round cake pans. separate eggs, placing whites in large bowl and yolks in 3-quart saucepan.

with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff peaks form.

in another large bowl, using same beaters and with mixer at medium speed, beat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup margarine or butter( 2 sticks), until light and fluffy. reduce speed to low; add flour, milk, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt and beat until blended, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. increase speed to medium, beat 2 minutes. gently fold egg whites into batter. spoon batter into cake pans.

stagger the 4 cake pans on 2 oven racks so they are not directly on top on one another.

bake 15 -20 minutes.

prepare filling; into yolks in saucepan, stir 1 3/4 cups sugar and 1/2 cup margarine or butter ( 1 stick). over medium heat, cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly and is glossy(do not boil) about 5-8 minutes. remove saucepan from heat; stir in pecans, raisins, coconut, cherries, and pineapple juice, cool.

assemble cake; place 1 cake layer on cake plate, top with one-fourth of filling mixture. repeat with remaining cake layers and filling, ending with filling.