St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake: Missouri's Richest Coffee Cake

Gooey butter cake is St. Louis's signature sweet — a flat, inch-tall slab of cake with a firm, yeast-soft base and a dense, custardy, faintly sunken top that stays molten and rich under a snowfall of powdered sugar. It is eaten as coffee cake, by the square, with coffee, at breakfast. According to Wikipedia, the cake was supposedly first made by accident in the 1930s by a German-American baker on St. Louis's south side — John Hoffman's new baker mixed up a "gooey butter" smear with the "deep butter" used for coffee cakes, and rather than throw the mistake away, they baked and sold it. It sold so well that bakeries across St. Louis kept making it. What's Cooking America records the same origin, and Grub Americana notes that Depression-era thrift — no one could afford to toss butter and sugar — turned a bakery error into a regional institution.

Today there are two cakes called gooey butter. The original baker's version is a yeast-raised dough under a corn syrup–stabilized butter-and-egg topping. The version that conquered home kitchens — and the one most people now know — uses yellow cake mix and cream cheese, an easier approximation that Paula Deen famously helped popularize nationwide. We give you the home classic, which is the most popular and forgiving rendition.

About the Ingredients

Yellow cake mix — the modern home baker's shortcut; doctored with butter and egg, it bakes into a sturdy, tender base.

Cream cheese — the heart of the gooey top; a full pound, beaten with eggs, powdered sugar, and vanilla, bakes into something between cheesecake and custard.

Powdered sugar — the dusting that makes it; apply it generously, just before serving.

Ingredients (serves 15): For the base: - 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix - 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted - 1 large egg For the gooey layer: - 1 lb (two 8-oz blocks) cream cheese, softened - 3 large eggs - 1 lb (4 cups) powdered sugar, plus more for dusting - 1 tsp vanilla extract - pinch of salt

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 pan. Mix the cake mix, melted butter, and one egg into a thick, cookie-dough-like batter — it will be stiff. Press it evenly into the pan with floured hands. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, and beat until the mixture is glossy and pourable. Pour over the base and bake 38–42 minutes: the top should be golden brown at the edges but the center should still jiggle slightly — it sets as it cools into the signature gooey middle. Cool at least 20 minutes, dust heavily with powdered sugar, and cut into squares while still barely warm.

The Mimosa Pairing Logic: This cake is unapologetic richness, so the glass wants acidity and lightness. A grapefruit-rosemary mimosa cuts straight through the butter and cream cheese, its slight bitterness resetting the palate between squares. A classic Champagne mimosa is the simpler, perfect choice — coffee, cake, bubbles, and morning. St. Louis would approve of both.

Reference Links: - Gooey Butter Cake (St. Louis origin, baker's formula): Wikipedia - Gooey Butter Cake History and Recipe: What's Cooking America - A St. Louis Original: Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake: Grub Americana

Make-Ahead: Gooey butter cake keeps 3 days covered at room temperature and is arguably better on day two, though the center firms as it sits — 10 seconds in the microwave restores the molten middle. It also freezes well, cut into squares and wrapped, for up to a month.

Pro Tips: Underbake with confidence — the center should tremble when the pan comes out; a fully set center means you've made a dry cheesecake bar. Press the base layer evenly; thin spots let the gooey layer sink to the bottom. Let the cream cheese come fully to room temperature or the layer will be lumpy. Dust with powdered sugar only at serving time — it melts into the warm top otherwise.