St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, also known as the cake you won't stop eating, is decadent, moist and nearly impossible to stop eating.
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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.
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 9x13 cake pan. That's pretty much what a St. Louis style gooey butter cake is.
You must drop everything and make this cake.
Also, this cake is dangerously easy to make.
Because this recipe was so popular, I also share a recipe for Gooey Butter Cake From Scratch.
But if you'd like a close relation to this cake in cookie form, make Kentucky Butter Cake Cookies with Cake Mix.
I think Kentucky Butter Cookies are closer to the cookie version of Gooey Butter Cake than Gooey Butter Cake Cookies are.
Want more dessert recipes? Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime Pie Recipe (Just 3 Ingredients) is a favorite as is Butterscotch Cake and Lemon Blackberry Cake (Easy)
Easy White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake is another favorite that comes together quickly in one bowl.
Bars are another popular recipe here such as Best Ever Starbucks Copycat S'mores Bars or these Easy, Chewy M&M Cookie Bars + What to Make with M&M's
How to Make Butter Cake
You'll make a base layer with cake mix, one beaten egg and a stick of melted butter.
The mixture will be somewhat dry and you'll have to pat it into the pan and spread it a bit with your fingers to cover the whole bottom of the 9x13.
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 spices.
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?"
Gooey Butter Cake Ingredients.
- box of yellow cake mix
- stick of butter, room temperature
- 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups powdered sugar, plus more for sifting over the top
Recipe Tips
Be sure that the butter is at room temperature.
Make sure the cream cheese is soft.
If it's not soft, you're going to have a lumps of cream cheese in your cake.
You want the cream cheese soft so it turns into a silky filling when you beat it with the eggs and powdered sugar.
Baking the Cake
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
Best Tip
My best tips for you are to not overbake this cake.
If it looks done and there is no movement at all when you nudge the pan with an oven-mitted paw, you've overbaked the cake and it will be on the dry side.
If you're looking for more cake recipes, try Lemon Blackberry Cake.
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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.
You might also like Butterscotch Cake
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
I've linked to a few good yellow cake mix recipes from my fellow food bloggers 🙂
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Recipes to Use a Box of Yellow Cake Mix
What can I make with a box of yellow cake mix? All kinds of things, including Kentucky Butter Cake Cookies.
Kentucky Butter Cake Cookies make with cake mix use just three ingredients and need no chill time. These are decadent, easy cookies.
Tracy
I'm not trying to be rude & I know there are many different ways to make different meals & desserts. I'm from Missouri. We use to go to the German bakeries to get the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake.
It isn't made w/ a box cake & it isn't made w/ cream cheese. Just like many people call it different names than it's proper, original name. Even Paula Dean calls it a different name & she uses a box cake mix. I just think it's selling yourself short of the original recipe & taste.
Thank you for your time.
Have a blessed day.
Torrie h.
Exactly… it’s a yeasted cake base and is covered with buttery cream cheese batter and baked until golden and the flavor profile is that of a sweet roll had a baby with a cheesecake and there’s absolutely no substitute. It’s haas bakery that ruined the whole thing, theirs was like the paula deen version you see now and thanks to becoming a mass produced product, the expectation changed. But if you are from St. Louis and you know, then you know.
Torrie h.
Let me add to this by saying it’s a cheesecake mouthfeel it doesn’t contain cream cheese. It’s just butter, sugar, and eggs… it’s kinda custardy but it gives off a cheesecake texture on top of a sweet roll that is maybe a little more dense than a traditional sweet roll. Nyt has a good recipe for it. But even so, nothing beats the German bakeries in St. Louis.
Melody
No one in my family has ever eaten Gooey Butter Cake before, and we all thought this was absolutely delicious. It's especially good still warm from the oven.
Jennifer Osborn
So glad you and your family enjoyed this Melody!