Sorry for the cell-phone picture... I forgot the real camera and I have no idea how to get the picture off the phone. I will be back through Calhoun City in the next couple of months. I'll get a better shot.
Calhoun City is a small town about 45 minutes south of Oxford on Hwy 9. I went through there on my way to Meridian. I had to drop off a couple of paintings at the Meridian Museum of Art for the Bi-State Exhibition. Of course, when I visit a new town, I look at the "list" to see if I can knock anything off. Luckily for me, Mark's One Stop was on the way with its Caramel Cake. First of all, I love love love caramel cake. My birthday cake (when I am in Alabama) is a Tennessee Jam Cake with a double batch of caramel icing. My favorite thing is to pick off the icing after the cake parts go stale. mmmmm.... I also have a faint memory of the Oxford American writing about this place (or more specifically the gas station food as culinary schizophrenia). I also remember this issue because it had the theory that the more anthropomorphized the pig on the bar-b-que sign, the better the meat. Exhibit A- my hometown barbeque place (which should've been on the list).
OK- let's get to the cake. I picked up 2 slices from the counter and brought them home. I could barely handle the 30 mile trip home and I have eaten my slice. HB better get back from Taylor soon! It was so good. The cake was buttery and light- it reminded me of a good poundcake. The icing was a double batch and homemade. There were no brach's caramels in there. It was so sweet that I had to have a glass of milk as a chaser. I highly recommend the caramel cake from Mark's One Stop. Don't let the gas station pizza turn you off.
We made a trip from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Calhoun City to visit the town I remembered as a child - my father grew up near there. Someone said to try the caramel cake at Mark's One Stop. I expected to see a bakery of some type, not a gas station. Was concerned about the quality but when I tasted it I was in heaven. I was glad we purchased a whole cake. Just can't convince my husband that we need to make the 350 mile trip back down there. That was in 2006.
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