Gooey Butter Cake

Gooey butter cake is St. Louis’s greatest contribution to the dessert world — a dense, buttery yeast-dough base topped with a gloriously soft, custard-like layer of cream cheese, butter, and sugar. It is part cake, part pudding, entirely addictive, and it has been a St. Louis bakery staple since the 1930s, when a baker’s butter-and-sugar mistake became a legend. Purists eat it with a fork; everyone eats it with joy.

Why this recipe works: The bottom layer is a rich, slightly chewy cake base, and the top is a barely-baked custard of cream cheese, butter, eggs, and sugar that stays soft and gooey in the center. The contrast — sturdy bottom, molten top — is the whole point. The secret is underbaking: the top should be set at the edges and still jiggly in the middle when it comes out of the oven.

Key ingredients

• Butter and flour: the dense, chewy base (a yeast-based dough is traditional; a simple butter-cake base is a reliable shortcut).
• Cream cheese: softened — the heart of the gooey layer.
• Sugar, eggs, and vanilla: the custard.
• Powdered sugar: dusted generously over the top.

Tips for the gooiest butter cake

Have the cream cheese and butter fully softened before mixing, or the topping will be lumpy. Spread the topping evenly over the base, then bake at 350°F just until the edges are set and golden and the center still wobbles — about 35 to 40 minutes; it finishes setting as it cools. Do not overbake, or you lose the goo. Cool completely, dust with powdered sugar, and cut into squares. Some St. Louisans insist on a fork; a spoon works too.

Variations and storage

Add cocoa powder to the topping for chocolate gooey butter cake, or pumpkin puree and spices in the fall. It keeps 3 to 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature — if it lasts that long — and reheats for a few seconds in the microwave to bring back the goo.

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