Cheddar Box Caramel Cake

One of the many local food establishments in Louisville is the Cheddar Box Cafe. My mom first discovered this great little sandwich shop and bakery many years ago. When we were still newbies to the food scene there and didn't realize the plethora of great local restaurants, we'd frequent the Cheddar Box every time we went up to go shopping. Despite all our fabulous finds since then, this little place remains on our radar as a go-to lunch spot.

Another constant is our love for their yellow cake with caramel icing. For years we've tried to decipher the ingredients but have never been able to quite put our finger on it. Well a couple years ago I decided to take a stab in the dark and email the local paper's food writer. What do you know, he sent it to me right away! All those years of wondering and I could have had it all along. After glancing at the recipe, I could see right away why the cake tasted so delicious - heavy cream, butter, cream cheese, more butter and lots of sugar! How could it not taste divine.

I actually prefer a yellow cake with a little more crumb to it. This one is quite dense and the cream is quite noticeable. As it was baking it smelled like baked vanilla ice cream. The finished result tastes much the same. The icing is to.die.for! It's no joke one of the best caramel icings I've ever tasted. I'll print the entire recipe below but please note that I never measure my powdered sugar for icings, it's a by taste method only. I would venture to guess I did not add the full 3 2/3 cup that the recipe calls for, but maybe 3ish.

Granny was quite pleased and hopefully you will be too!

Cheddar Box Caramel Cake

Cake:
3 cups flour (I used all-purpose but I wondered if cake flour might have made for a lighter cake)
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 pound butter, softened (2 sticks)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 T. vanilla

Icing:
1 stick butter (I used slightly less than 7 T.)
1 cup brown sugar (again, I used slightly less)
4 T. cream
3 2/3 cups powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla

To make the cake:
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter. Slowly add sugar, a cup at a time. When well-mixed, add eggs 1 at a time. Then add dry ingredients alternately with cream and vanilla, beginning and ending with flour.

Bake in 2 greased and floured (I also used parchment paper) 9-inch baking pans at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

To make the icing:
Melt butter in small saucepan. Add brown sugar and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Add cream and boil another minute. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and beat in cream cheese and vanilla. Let cool then frost cake.