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This Ooey Gooey Butter Cake is a decadent, legendary treat straight from the bakeries of St. Louis. With a chewy, buttery cake mix crust and a luscious cream cheese topping that stays perfectly gooey in the center, it’s the ultimate dessert. Whether you serve it as a brunch coffee cake or a rich evening bar, this foolproof recipe is guaranteed to be a hit.
The Happy Gooey Butter Cake Accident
The magic of this best gooey butter cake recipe is all in the jiggle. Born from a 1930s baking accident where a German baker reversed the butter and flour, this cake is designed to look slightly underbaked when it leaves the oven. The result is a coffee cake like pastry that’s also sweet enough to be dessert.
I’ve perfected the ratio using a yellow cake mix base and a thick, velvety cream cheese layer to ensure that every slice has a crisp, flaky top and a melt-in-your-mouth center that lives up to its name. Traditional versions have a yeast dough on the bottom, but this is a semi-homemade recipe that starts with cake mix. It’s better than the Paula Deen Ooey Gooey Butter Cake that made it a household name when she made it on her show.
How do you know when gooey butter cake is done? Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes until the edges are golden brown and slightly puffed, but the center still has a noticeable jiggle. Do not wait for the center to set or for a toothpick to come out clean; the cake will continue to firm up as it cools, ensuring that signature ooey gooey texture.
Ingredients for the Gooiest Butter Cake
- The classic recipe uses one package yellow cake mix. You can also make other variations – see below for ideas!
- I always use Unsalted Butter for my baking, but you can substitute salted by reducing the added salt. Both the crust and filling use melted butter.
- Use a good quality butter since it’s a butter-forward flavor. European butter, with it’s higher fat content, is even better because it will make the crust even more shortbread-like.
- Cream Cheese makes the gooey filling or topping for the cake. It needs to be room temperature to avoid lumps.
- Powdered Sugar is what sweetens the gooey cream cheese top.
Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions. See below the recipe card for even more information: process shots, variations, FAQ and more.
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Dorothy’s Expert Gooey Cake Tips
- Be sure that your cream cheese and eggs are room temperature to avoid lumps in the top layer.
- Normally I use foil to line my pans, but be sure to use parchment paper. Foil will cause your bars to brown too quickly.
- Dust powdered sugar on top of the filling once they’re baked and cooled.
- To get clean cuts when slicing Ooey Gooey Bars, use a plastic knife. Like when making brownies, the fudge-like topping doesn’t stick to plastic like it does to metal.
Gooey Butter Bars Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Bottom Layer:
- 1 15-16 ounce box yellow cake mix
- ½ cup (113g) Challenge unsalted butter melted
- 1 large egg
Top Layer:
- 8 ounces (226g) cream cheese (softened)
- 2 tablespoons (28g) Challenge unsalted butter melted
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place cake mix, melted butter, and 1 egg in a large bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth and crumbly. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Set aside.
- Wipe out the bowl. Add cream cheese, melted butter, eggs and vanilla and mix to break up the cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth and no lumps remain.
- Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the cake mixture in prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until light golden on top and no longer glossy.
- Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and slice into bars for serving.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Freeze in a single layer for up to 3 months.
Recipe Nutrition
How to make Gooey Butter Cake Step-by-Step
- Combine cake mix with melted butter and egg in a large bowl. You can use a hand mixer or add them to the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix at medium speed.
- Mix until the cake part is smooth and crumbly – this should happen quickly because of the melted butter.
- Pat mixture into the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan that’s been lined with parchment paper and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. The bottom layer will be thin.
- To make the filling, you’re going to beat cream cheese with eggs, vanilla, and melted butter.
- Then, add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Pour the cream cheese filling over cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown on top – the top cake layer forms a crust. Cooking time is about 40-50 minutes.
Ooey Gooey Cake FAQ
This cake has a soft bottom layer and a gooey filling. They’re perfect cut into bars, like chess squares. The bars are sweet and remind me of a breakfast pastry.
You don’t have to refrigerate the bars but you can, to make them last longer. Store them tightly covered with plastic wrap or in a large ziploc bag.
You can freeze these in a single layer so they don’t stick to each other.
They are cousins! Chess bars are a Southern tradition often using buttermilk, while Gooey Butter Cake is a St. Louis classic that relies on cream cheese for its iconic “gooey” layer.
Absolutely. While yellow is traditional, using a chocolate or lemon cake mix is an easy way to create a seasonal variation.
This is actually a sign of success! As the air deflates during cooling, the center sinks to create that dense, gooey texture.
Store at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days for a firmer, fudgy texture.
The Betty Crocker yellow cake mix only has 13.25 ounces now, I think it’s called inflation 😂 is that a problem your recipe calls for a 15-16 ounce cake mix?
No it will still work – thank you for reminding me – these companies keep changing the sizes of their boxes!
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