St. Louis Gooey Butter Cakes

[gfron1]

Over in THIS POST about mid-way down, you'll see a gooey butter cake that I bought on my recent trip to St. Louis. As far as I can tell, these are exclusive to St. Louis, and growing up I only had them for breakfast, although they are better suited for dessert. Asking my mom for a recipe, I was provided this classic from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1972.

Make the Dough

Mix 1/4 C. Sugar with 1/4 C. Shortening and 1/4 t. Salt. Add 1 egg and mix in a mixer for 1 minute or until combined.

Dissolve 1 pkt of yeast with 1/2 C. warm milk. Add 2 1/2 C. Flour to dough mixture, then add the milk/yeast and 1 T. Vanilla. Mix 3 minutes with a dough hook and you'll have this:

Let it sit covered for 1 hour.

Make the Filling

Combine 2 1/2 C. Sugar, 1 C. Softened Butter and a pinch of salt.

Add 1 egg and 1/4 C. Light Corn Syrup.

Mix thoroughly and stop when incorporated.

Divide the dough in two pieces. Roll out or press each into 9x9 well-buttered pan, taking the dough half way up the sides. Fill each with half of the gooey butter.

No need to make it pretty, it won't last, but I did anyway.

Bake in a pre-heated 375F oven for 30 minutes. Here's mine at 15 minutes.

Obviously I'll need to make an altitude adjustment on my next batch. And here's the final after it set and cooled.

Enjoy!

[LindaK]

oh, delicious. I haven't had gooey butter cake since I moved from St. Louis almost 10 years ago. Highly recommended, but everyone should know that a little piece goes a long way--the name is literal. Thanks for the memories!

[rlibkind]

Wherever there's a substantial German heritage, you'll find butter cake, a.k.a., butterkuchen. We've got what is essentially the same cake in Philadelphia, usually found at old style German bakeries like Haegele's. Only difference is we prefer our topping not quite as gooey, so it has an extra egg and no corn syrup. Otherwise, it's the same cake. Bet you'll find it in other cities with German influence. Maybe Cincinnati?

[judiu]

I have to ask, which pan seemed to work better? I notice the final shot seems to be of the cake that was in the springform pan; was that the better of the two? Also, was the other pan a silicone one, or was it metal?

[gfron1]

I liked my springform, but in StL we always use a pyrex 9x9.

[CaliPoutine]

Hahaha, I always thought Paula Deen invited the Gooey butter cake using a cake mix. I didnt know it was a real from scratch cake. The things you learn on eG.

[gfron1]

It's been my best selling dessert this week, over tiramisu, lemon macarons, CCCs & brownies. I always do my part for the waistlines of Silver City.

[Mayhaw Man]

That looks delicious. I haven't had any of that stuff in a very long time.

I guess I know what I'll be baking on Sunday afternoon while I watch Roger beat the tar out of that little heathen in cutoffs.

I do like a good piece of cake.

[gfron1]

I received a number of PMs from folks who were going to make it - how did they turn out?

I also wanted to say that Calipoutine's comment about boxed cake mix - I don't know what Paula Deen was making, but the dough on this is nothing like cake. Its much more sturdy - you have to knead it. She must have been making one of those Pennsylvania versions

[Marya]

Just stumbled on this thread and can't thank you enough for the recipe. For 28 years, when visiting in-laws in Clayton, I looked forward to the excellent pastries from Lake Forest Bakery. Their gooey butter cake set the standard and the nut coffee cakes were also excellent. Last June, we purchased the gooey cake from Lake Forest Confections (they set up shop across the street from the now-defunct Lake Forest bakery) and it was disappointing. You offer new hope for my daughters who still talk about it with a dreamy gaze.

[gfron1]

You're welcome. Next time you go to St. Louis, ask family to take you to the place (I think its in the south city) that has something like 75 varieties of gooey butter cake. That should give you plenty of practice in making the recipe!

[elfin]

Ditto on the Lake Forest Bakery as the one and only place for GBC. I was sad to hear they had closed. I had tried theri other flavors and always came back to the original.

[jgm]

You're welcome.  Next time you go to St. Louis, ask family to take you to the place (I think its in the south city) that has something like 75 varieties of gooey butter cake.    That should give you plenty of practice in making the recipe!

←

Just curious...I was reading this thread and was wondering what kinds of variations might be possible, when this post came up. What varieties do you remember? Do people put things on top, as with cheesecake, or is it more a mixed-in kind of thing? Do they vary mainly the filling, or also the crust?

Yum. Sounds wonderful!

[gfron1]

Chocolate chips are commonly just mixed in. Other flavors are typically extracts or compounds/purees simply worked in. But all that I've seen are worked in, not on top.

[ghostrider]

Wow, I grew up in St. Louis. Left there in 1971 for NYC.

I have never, ever heard of gooey butter cakes till this moment.

The first post here indicates that they were common enough to warrant a recipe in the StL Post-Dispatch in 1972. That would surely indicate that they'd been around the town for a while before that.

This is all very odd.

ETA: a little time with Google and I came across this page, which bids fair to hold the definitive story on its invention:

In late 1942 or early 1943, Johnny Hoffman of St. Louis Pastries Bakery was working on a Saturday and made what eventually turned out to be Gooey Butter Cake....

Edited September 13, 2008 by ghostrider (log)

[prasantrin]

If I were to use a pyrex 9x9, is the recipe you posted enough for 2 pans, or did you double the recipe?

Will the cake pop out of the pan, or does it get served in the pan?

It's getting a little cooler in Japan (it actually got down to 28C the other day!), so it's almost time to start baking!

One more thing...can the cake be frozen after (or before?) baking?

[gfron1]

Uh oh Rona. I don't remember. If I were being smart at the time of posting the recipe, I would have modified it for a single 9x9 or 8x8, but my picture clearly shows two pans. My guess is that with 2 1/2 cups of flour, that is a double recipe. The traditional one would be a single 9x9. I say go for it and be ready for two pans...my pics give you a good guess on how much to fill your pan. And it will bubble up so be prepared.

As far as freezing...I've never tried, but my guess is that you could freeze it with no harm.

[jgm]

Since there are only two of us in the house, I have to ask whether this dessert needs to be refrigerated, or does it sit on the counter like a "regular" cake?

[gfron1]

I keep it on the counter. But then I keep a lot of things on my counter that others refrigerate. But, I would invite some non-diabetic friends over and have a brunch!

Edited September 14, 2008 by gfron1 (log)