Name: Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 box of chocolate cake mix; 1 cup (2 sticks) salted melted butter; 3 large room temperature eggs; 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese (softened); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 4 cups confectioner's sugar

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Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake recipe is fudgy and unctuous. Made with a simple chocolate cake mix base and topped with a gooey butter layer, this dessert is easy to make and impossible to resist.

Gooey Butter Cake is a reader favorite from St. Louis style cake mix gooey butter cake, Gooey Butter Cake from scratch to Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake and Gooey Butter Cake Cookies. Plus you'll love Philly German Butter Cake too.

A slice of gooey butter cake sits on a rustic plate with a decorative spoon. The cake has a rich, dark crust and creamy, yellow topping. A larger portion of the cake is visible in the background on parchment paper. — Chocolate gooey butter cake is a cinch to make when you start with a chocolate cake mix.

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How to Make Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake
Chocolate Butter Cake Ingredients
How to Make Chocolate Butter Cake
Prepare the cake pan
Prepare the chocolate cake layer
Make the Gooey Butter Cake Layer
How to Tell When A Gooey Butter Cake Is Done
Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake Best Tips
PIN TO SAVE FOR LATER
Recipe
Comments

How to Make Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

The key to making any kind of gooey butter cake is to start with room temperature cream cheese.

Cream cheese is the base of your gooey butter cake and if it isn't room temperature, you won't be able to blend it into a smooth mixture.

Instead your batter will have tiny lumps of cream cheese in it.

Tiny bits of cream cheese will otherwise bring the world to an end but your gooey layer will not be as creamy.

A mixing bowl with creamy batter sits on a countertop, partially covered by a red and blue striped cloth. A green silicone spatula with a wooden handle rests on the bowls edge. A hand mixer is partially visible, blending the batter. — Beat the ooey gooey layer with a hand mixer. You can use a sturdy spatula but since you're beating cream cheese, an electric mixer will be a lot easier.

The other key to a good cake is not to over bake the cake.

Determining whether a gooey butter cake is done can be trickier than other cakes and taking its temperature is the best method.

A digital cooking thermometer is your best solution for making sure you've baked the cake to safety.

A toothpick test is unreliable. If you bake this chocolate gooey butter cake until the toothpick comes out clean, it will be over baked.

If the center of the cake wobbles like a wave, it isn't done.

The sides will begin to pull away from the pan when it's done baking but the inside may still not have reached a high enough temperature so have a digital thermometer in your kitchen.

gooey butter cake with a red digital thermometer sticking out of it. — Determining when a gooey butter cake is done is best achieved with a digital thermometer. I've used and loved this cooking thermometer for years.

Chocolate Butter Cake Ingredients

Ingredients for baking chocolate cake are arranged on a surface. Items include a box of chocolate cake mix, butter sticks, cream cheese, eggs, and a bowl of flour. A striped cloth is partially visible under the items. — Chocolate gooey butter cake ingredients include cake mix, two sticks of unsalted butter, 3 large eggs, 8-ounces of cream cheese, and powdered sugar. You'll also need to save your butter wrappers to grease your pan. If you have cocoa powder, use a teaspoon to coat the pan after you grease it. Powdered sugar will also work. Don't buy a container of cocoa powder just for this recipe.

How to Make Chocolate Butter Cake

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Prepare 13x9 pan by wiping it with butter wrapper. Be sure to cover the bottom and sides

Dust a teaspoon of cocoa powder or powdered sugar over the top.

You're going to make the chocolate layer first by beating the cake mix, 1 egg, vanilla extract and 1 stick melted butter.

You'll put the chocolate cake mixture into a greased 13x9 pan.

Then you'll make the gooey butter layer by beating the softened cream cheese, remaining two eggs, powdered sugar and 1 stick of melted butter together in a large mixing bowl.

Pour it over the chocolate cake layer and bake at 325F° for 30 minutes or until a thermometer reads between 200F° and 210F°.

Prepare the cake pan

A note on the cake pan. This recipe is for a 13x9 cake pan but I used a round cake pan. Please stick with the 13x9 pan.

A round baking pan with a butter wrapper inside is on a white surface. Nearby, part of a red and white striped towel and a whisk are visible. Text Kitchensert is at the bottom left. — Grease inside of pan with empt butter wrapper. You do this so the cake releases from the pan.

A hand holding a tablespoon of cocoa powder over a round cake pan on a striped cloth. Baking beaters and shadows are on the light blue surface. Bright sunlight casts distinct shadows across the scene. — Dust cocoa powder or confectioners sugar or flour over the top of the greased pan.

A hand holding a round baking pan dusted with cocoa powder. The pan is set against a colorful, striped cloth. Sunlight casts a shadow across the pan, highlighting the smooth cocoa powder surface. — You may have a bit of excess cocoa powder, you can toss that in the trash.

Prepare the chocolate cake layer

A glass bowl on a striped cloth contains dry cake mix being poured into melted butter. The scene is brightly lit, suggesting daytime, with the cloth adding a colorful backdrop. — Beat chocolate cake mix, one large egg, 1 stick of melted butter and a teaspoon of vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.

A pot with a ball of dark chocolate dough inside, resting on a striped red, green, and white cloth. Sunlight casts a shadow on the empty part of the pot. — Put chocolate cake mix layer once mixed into the pan and spread using your clean fingers or the bottom of a measuring cup.

A moist chocolate cake in a round pan next to a mixing beater and cup of white glaze. The pan sits atop a colorful striped cloth on a light surface. — Use the bottom of a measuring cup to flatten the dough.

Make the Gooey Butter Cake Layer

A glass mixing bowl contains cream cheese and two cracked eggs against a striped cloth background. A teal spatula with a wooden handle rests on the bowls edge. — Beat eggs, softened cream cheese, melted butter and confectioner's sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined.

A glass bowl with creamy batter sits on a textured surface. A blue spatula rests inside the bowl, and a hand mixer is nearby. A striped red, green, and white kitchen towel is partially visible under the bowl. — Beat until creamy.

A thick yellow batter is being poured from a metal mixing bowl onto a dark batter base in a round baking pan. A spatula and mixer beater are nearby, all placed on a striped cloth on a light countertop. — Pour the gooey butter layer onto the chocolate cake mix.

How to Tell When A Gooey Butter Cake Is Done

Gooey butter cake can be tricky because the center is supposed to stay gooey.

Unlike a traditional cake, the toothpick test isn’t reliable, and it’s very easy to overbake if you’re waiting for the center to look completely set.

Here are a few ways to tell when your gooey butter cake is done:

The edges should be puffed and lightly golden.
The center should jiggle slightly when you gently shake the pan. A little movement is normal, but it shouldn’t look wet or slosh around.
The top should look set instead of shiny or raw.
The cake will continue to firm up as it cools, so don’t wait for the center to become completely firm in the oven.

If you have an instant-read digital thermometer, it’s my favorite way to check doneness. It takes the guesswork out of baking, so you can feel confident your gooey butter cake is fully baked and ready to eat. I look for an internal temperature of 200 to 205°F in the center.

Once you make gooey butter cake a few times, you’ll recognize that slight jiggle as the sweet spot between perfectly gooey and overbaked.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake Best Tips

Start with room temperature cream cheese.
Use a digital cooking thermometer to determine doneness. Cake should register temperature between 200°F and 205°F.
Bake in a 13x9 cake pan not a round cake pan as shown in photos.

PIN TO SAVE FOR LATER

pin for chocolate gooey butter cake — Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake is rich, fudgy, and melts in your mouth! Made with a simple chocolate cake mix and a few pantry staples, it’s the perfect dessert for chocolate lovers. Save this easy recipe for your next party.

I use and love this Thermopen digital thermometer.

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Recipe

Yield: 12

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

No Ratings

Chocolate gooey butter cake is a cinch to make when you start with a chocolate cake mix.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 cup (2 sticks) salted melted butter
3 large room temperature eggs
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325F°. Grease a 13x9 cake pan and dust with a tablespoon of cocoa powder or powdered sugar.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together cake mix, 1 egg and ½ cup (one stick) melted butter.
Pat cake mix into pan. Use your fingers or a flat bottom measuring cup. Set aside.
Using the same bowl, beat cream cheese until smoother. Add eggs, the remains stick of butter (melted), vanilla extract and confectioners’s sugar. Continue beating together until all ingredients are smooth.
Pour over the chocolate layer.
Bake at 325F° for 45 minutes or until done. The cake should reach an internal temperature between 200F° and 210F°.
The center should not wobble like a wave but it will look a bit gooey.

Notes

Be sure to bake this cake in a 13x9 sheet pan. The photos show the cake in a round 8x8 pan. The chocolate cake layer will overcook before the gooey butter layer is done.

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Nutrition Information

Yield 12 Serving Size 1 slice
Amount Per Serving Calories 245Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 68mgSodium 104mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 0gSugar 38gProtein 3g

Nutrition information is approximate as I am not a registered dietician.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake Recipe (Easy Cake Mix Version)