Some months ago, a reader requested a light-textured cheddar cake she had sampled at a party — butter cake, not cream cheese cake. This proved to be one of those rare occasions when even the Internet had little to say: I found two recipes for cheddar cake online and only one that seemed to fit her description.

Found on the Web site of the Loleta Cheese Factory in Loleta, Calif., this recipe went together in the usual fashion (cream butter and sugar, add eggs, add flour and liquid alternatively, add flavorings) and made a rather thickish batter that, while it was baking, smelled deliciously of caramelizing sugar and butter. The cake itself was reminiscent of the rather substantial cakes that accompany tea in Britain, with the salty cheddar offering a savory balance to the butter-sugar-egg richness.

I was at a loss as to how to serve the cake, though. Should it be frosted? Served in slices or fingers? Is it a savory or a sweet? In the end, I opted for topping the warm cake with a slightly piquant glaze (a jar of homemade guava-ginger-lemon jam given me by the late Advertiser columnist Maili Yardley's daughter, Laura, which I had been hoarding for two years). This idea came from the Spanish/Caribbean custom of serving salty-tart cheese with sweet guava puree. It worked well. My tasters noted that the cheese flavor in this cake is very faint; it's definitely on the dessert side of the menu, but without being overly sweet. A cream cheese frosting would probably be fabulous with this, if you're going for a sugar-and-fat knockout.

I'm not sure this is the cake the reader had in mind; she mentioned a chiffon texture. Next attempt: a basic chiffon recipe with the addition of 2/3-cup cubed cheddar.

CHEDDAR CAKE