Favorite Summer Cakes - Part One: Gooey Butter Cake

Those three words.  Gooey.  Butter.  Cake.  Need I say more?  This recipe is amazing, and even greater that the sum of its parts.

 Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis tradition dating back to the 1930s. It's a dense, moist, rich cake, with butter (of course) and flour, often with powdered sugar on top.  There are a variety of different recipes for this glorious deliciousness, and this is the second recipe I tried.  I made this for a birthday celebration for my coworker from St. Louis.  I love the addition of cream cheese in this particular recipe, and the golden baked powdered sugar is the best part.  

Enjoy!! 
Getting ingredients together


Spreading the cream cheese mixture onto the cake

Done!

Can't wait to eat!



St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

 Ingredients:

 1/2 cup butter
1 box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into quarters
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
4 cups powdered sugar
Directions:

 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a deep 9x13 cake pan.

 2.  Melt butter in the microwave.

 3.  Empty cake mix into a large bowl.  Stir melted butter and 1 egg into the cake mix.  Press the mixture into the pan.  (It will resemble sticky dough.)

 4. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, vanilla or almond extract, powdered sugar and the remaining 2 eggs.  Pour evenly over top of the cake mixture in the pan.

 5.  Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown on top.  The top layer of sugar should harden slightly.  (If the pan is shallow, place a cookie sheet under the pan to catch any dough that boils over.)

 6.  Let cake cool completely.  Dust the top with powdered sugar.  Serve at room temperature or cooled.

 (St. Louis style gooey butter cake from nmlawrence at food.com)

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