Andrew and I have been trying to improve our diet and fitness lately.  Naturally, this involves eating more salads, exercising more, and generally getting outdoors more (difficult in Illinois this “spring”).  In furtherance of our health initiative, I developed the “salad” recipe below.  There are different kinds of salads in this world — green salad, broccoli salad, fruit salad.  This one is…butter salad.

Ingredients

For the Cake
2 and 1/4 cups organic, unbleached, all purpose flour
1 and 1/4 cup organic sugar
3 and 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), melted

For the Filling
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), melted
4 c powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and whisk.  Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla and melted butter. Mix together with a hand mixer or using a pastry cutter until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray.

Press cake mixture into bottom of prepared pan, pressing it evenly into the corners so that the thickness is even throughout.

Beat cream cheese, remaining eggs, vanilla and melted butter in stand mixer on medium speed until creamy.

Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time on low speed until all sugar has been added and incorporated.

Pour cream cheese mixture over cake mixture.

Bake for 35-45 minutes. Do not overcook!!  The center should still be jiggly and the edges just brown when the cake is done.

Allow to cool before serving with generous dollops of vanilla ice cream.