Southern Spotlight: Caroline’s Cakes

The sons of a South Carolina entrepreneur carry on her bustling business sparked by a scrumptious cake served at a family celebration.

With a childhood spent frequenting church picnics, family barbecues, and dinner parties, Caroline Ragsdale Reutter understood the unifying power of food from an early age. Accustomed to preparing dishes for every occasion, it was her son Richard’s christening where she served the very first of the seven-layer caramel cakes that would become the foundation of a robust baking enterprise.

Word of the decadent confections spread as Caroline steadily increased her production to eight cakes a day. One afternoon about two decades ago, she received a phone call from the financial giant known then as U.S. Trust Corporation, where an employee who had sampled her cakes recommended them as holiday gifts. When informed the company would need a total of 2,000 cakes, she did not miss a beat before agreeing to provide them—and Caroline’s Cakes was born.

Unwilling to jeopardize the time-honored recipe she had developed with her grandmother, Caroline filled that first big order in authentic cottage industry fashion. “It showed Mom’s true entrepreneurial spirit that she put a commercial kitchen in the basement of her home and got the order out—baked in the basement, packed in the garage,” says Richard, who works alongside his brother, Charles.

Caroline’s Cakes operates by mail order and boasts about 30 flavors of four- and seven-layer cakes (depending on the season), such as their 7-Layer Coconut Cloud Cake, Carrot Cake Traditional, and Pink Champagne Cake. They also offer savory meal kits and sides like Southern Cheese Biscuits and Carolina-Style BBQ Party.

While Caroline passed away from ovarian cancer in 2017, her lasting influence remains with those who knew her as well as the spirit of the firm and its motto, “Eat Cake. Be Happy.” Her sons carry on the work she started and continue to honor her in a special way: each September, in support of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, 25 percent of all caramel cake sales are donated to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Richard says his mother unequivocally left her mark on Caroline’s Cakes, from the recipes she flagged in cookbooks still housed at the bakery to the fond memories treasured by those who knew her. “This will always be Caroline’s Cakes,” Richard says. “She left quite a legacy.”

Read the full story in our March/April 2021 issue, and learn more about Caroline’s Cakes at carolinescakes.com.

Text by Holly Seng; Photography courtesy of Caroline’s Cakes