Gooey Butter Cake, also known as the cake you won’t stop eating, is decadent, moist and nearly impossible to stop eating.
Like all great things, this cake has a history.
Gooey Butter Cake is the result of a baker from my hometown of St. Louis long ago accidentally leaving the leavening out of a cake.
The baker man served the flat, dense cake anyway and people loved it.
A new food was born.
Gooey Butter Cake (The Cake You Won’t Stop Eating)
You must try Gooey Butter Cake, which is moist, decadent and foolproof. Starting with a box cake mix, this is an easy, quick recipe, perfect for lazy hosts
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If you’ve never had St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, I am very sorry.
Imagine if you will, a giant cheese danish that fills a 9×13 cake pan, that’s a gooey butter cake.
You must drop everything and make this cake.
Also, this cake is dangerously easy to make.
Gooey Butter Cake Quick Directions
You’ll make a base layer with cake mix, one beaten egg and a stick of melted butter.
Then you’ll make a second layer to pour over the top of the base layer.
The second layer will have the remaining two eggs, a package of softened cream cheese and two cups of powdered sugar.
Voila!
This yellow cake recipe is almost effortless.
That makes Gooey Butter Cake a perfect treat to serve guests.
You’ll be wowing them and ruining their diets with something that took you just a few minutes to blend together and toss in the oven.
Why You Won’t Be Able to Stop Eating This Cake
This cake has no spice. It has no citrus no liquor and no strong spice profile.
But you will still be in love with it.
The combination of a stick of butter, a package of cream cheese, and eggs creates an unctuousness (that’s fancy word for full of fat) that you won’t be able to resist.
Confession: I wasn’t planning to share this cake recipe with you. I’m all about cookies and mixed drinks and the occasional fish dish or easy dinner recipe.
In fact, I haven’t made this cake in years and years and years.
Not sure why.
Oh wait, I do know why.
I like to fit in my pants.
But, my teenager, who loves cake, especially if it’s more danish than cake, asked me to make it last weekend.
I like to make treats for my son.
Especially since he’s skinny and lanky in that teenage boy way right now. All elbows and limbs.
I should tell you that he delivered a fair amount of cheek with his request.
His exact words were:
“Hey since you’ve already got an apron on, why don’t you make a gooey butter cake?”
St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake Tips
Don’t over bake this cake. That is my best advice for you.
If you over bake it, the cake gets a teensy bit dry.
We don’t want that. We want the moist texture of a cream cheese danish.
The cake shown in the photos in this post has been slightly over baked.
But you might be wondering. how you will know when the cake is done baking.
The cake will be done when there’s a slight jiggle in the middle.
If the wobble is on the outside edges of cake, it isn’t done yet.
I would check on the cake after it’s been in the oven for 25 minutes, especially if your oven runs hot.
Ideal baking time, depending on how hot your oven runs, is 30 to 35 minutes.
Ooey Gooey Cake Ingredient List:
- yellow cake mix
- stick of butter, room temperature
- 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Equipment Needed:
A 9×13 cake pan (however you could substitute two 8×8 square pans, the cakes will just be slightly thicker (affiliate link).
Parchment paper (I have a similar two-pack but I buy mine for less from Sam’s Club)
Gooey Butter Cake (Original St. Louis Recipe)
Moist, decadent and dangerously easy to make, gooey butter cake is like a giant cream cheese danish. You can't eat just one piece.
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
Instructions
Grease 9x13 cake pan and dust with powdered sugar.
Or, line cake pan with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Make base layer of cake
Beat one egg in a large mixing bowl.
Melt one stick of butter.
Add cake mix and melted butter to bowl with beaten egg.
Stir until well-combined. You can do this with a spatula or use an electric mixer. Your choice.
Cake mix will be thick. Dump this mixture (it will be too thick to pour) into the cake pan and spread with hands until it's an even layer.
Run the flat side of a measuring cup over the cake so the top is smooth and doesn't have fingerprints.
Unless you're going to be serving people who like fingerprints in their cake.
But, no one is going to see the fingerprints because you're going to cover it with a cream cheese layer.
Make cream cheese layer.
In the same bowl you used to make the base cake layer, beat the remaining two eggs.
To the eggs add softened 8-ounce cream cheese and two cups of powdered sugar until smooth. You won't see any tiny lumps of cream cheese if you've beat it enough. For this step, I recommend an electric mixer. It took me about five minutes using my stand mixer to beat all the lumps out of the batter.
Pour cream cheese mixture over the base layer of cake.
Bake at 325 F for at least 30 minutes but no more than 35 minutes. Start checking at 25 minutes to make sure it isn't over baking. You want to pull the cake out when the middle still has a bit of jiggle.
After removing from oven, let cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Gild the lily, if you like, by dusting with powdered sugar.
Serve with strong coffee or tea or whiskey.
Makes 24 servings.
Notes
Don't over bake this cake.
Check it at 25 minutes. It will most likely be done at 30 minutes.
The type of cake mix you use doesn't matter. Just grab a standard yellow box of cake mix from your supermarket grocery aisle. You'll want a box mix ranging from 8 or 9 ounces to 12 ounces. Any box mix that will make a 9x13 sheet cake.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 193Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 228mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 0gSugar: 19gProtein: 2g
What Can I Add to Yellow Cake Mix?
You can do lots of things with yellow cake mix, including making cookies, muffins, pie bars, dump cake, sweetbreads, the possibilities are endless.
I’ve linked to a few good recipes from fellow food bloggers 🙂 See below.
Recipes to Use a Box of Yellow Cake Mix
More Easy One Bowl Recipes
Your turn:
Have you ever eaten Gooey Butter Cake? Have you ever visited St. Louis?
Do you know my favorite STL comedienne, Kathleen Madigan?
More Links
A competition for best Gooey Butter Cake
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