Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis classic, and I’m a St. Louis girl – so consider this my all-grown-up love letter to this DELIGHTFUL butter filled dessert.
Now if you’re like….ok I literally have never heard of gooey butter cake in my life – I GOT YOU. Gooey butter cake is a double layer cake, but it looks more like a bar. Think really rich and dense cake at the bottom, and a thick sugary, syrupy sweet layer at the top. It’s infinitely hard to explain unless you’ve tried it. Honesty I’m doing a mediocre job, here’s a Wikipedia to help me out.
So to do justice to the classic, my version of gooey butter cake includes the powdered sugar topping, two layers of cake (one creamy and sweet, one dense and cakey), and of course all the butter. But in an attempt to elevate it just a bit, I made this gooey butter cake in tart form, added some kumquats and pears for complexity and flavor, and made it a bit simpler with the base ingredients.
Normally gooey butter cake includes a boxed cake mix of some kind, but this one just includes butter (of course), sugar, eggs, flour, almond flour, salt, and vanilla extract.
It’s low on ingredients but HIGH on flavor, texture and just basic dessert magic. I love it so much <3
Table of contents
Ingredients for the tart shell
- 113 grams butter, 1 stick
- 50 grams granulated sugar, 1/4 cup
- 140 grams all-purpose flour, 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 large egg yolk, reserve the egg white for the topping
How to make the tart shell
This section is all about process. The ingredients are simple, but you need to be patient with the aspect of adding them one at a time. But it will pay off in the end!
Start by creaming together the butter and sugar in your stand mixer, then add in the flour and mix until it is a crumbly mixture (see above)
When you reach that texture, add the egg yolk and watch magic start to happen. After about 30 seconds of mixing, the dough magically comes together into a thick, play-dough like texture. It’s firm, buttery and super easy to work with.
Move this shell for the gooey butter cake onto a work surface, and quickly form it into a ball with your hands. Don’t work it too much, or you risk melting some of the butter in there.
Quickly wrap it in cling wrap and store it in the fridge while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
Ingredients for the gooey butter topping
- 113 grams butter, 1 stick
- 100 grams granulated sugar, 1/2 cup
- 100 grams almond flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp & 1 tsp all-purpose flour
How to make the butter topping for this gooey butter cake
This process is very similar to the tart process. We are just gradually adding each ingredient to the mixer at a time.
The beauty of this topping is that it comes out pretty smooth and gorgeous every time, and you don’t need to tend to the mixer too much. Just add the butter and sugar first, cream that very well and then add in the almond flour.
When the almond flour mixture looks like the photo above, you can add the remaining ingredients and beat until it looks smooth and well combined.
I mean just look at the texture of this gooey butter cake topping. Immaculate and gorgeous.
Let both parts of the gooey butter cake chill in the fridge while you preheat the oven. This will give both aspects of the recipe a bit of time to firm up. This is what gives the butter a fighting chance in the oven.
How to bring this gooey butter cake recipe together
Roll out the tart dough on a separate surface, but then move it to the tart shell to fully spread it out. It can get difficult to handle if you try to roll it out fully on the surface, so move it to the pan early.
Then give it a few pricks with a fork to help it bake through!
Spread out the gooey butter cake topping until it is at the edges. This is so fun and soothing, definitely my favorite part of the baking process.
From there you can add whatever fruit you like! Definitely don’t feel tied to the fruits I’ve outlined here. I’ve made it with tons of different fruit varieties, and I think that’s what can make this gooey butter cake recipe so seasonal and fun.
And then bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until the top is just liiiightly brown. You want it to still feel *gooey*
Looking for other dessert recipes?
Here are a few of my other favorite bakes recently!
And that’s it for this gooey butter cake recipe!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Not-Quite Gooey Butter Cake
Equipment
- 1 9" tart pan
Ingredients
For the tart base:
- 113 grams butter 1 stick
- 50 grams granulated sugar 1/4 cup
- 140 grams all-purpose flour 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 large egg yolk reserve the egg white for the topping
For the gooey butter topping:
- 113 grams butter 1 stick
- 100 grams granulated sugar 1/2 cup
- 100 grams almond flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp & 1 tsp all-purpose flour
For toppings:
- 1 large red pear thinly sliced
- 15 small kumquats cleaned and halved
Instructions
- Begin with the tart shell. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the flour and salt to the stand mixer and beat again until a sand-like mixture forms. Occasionally scrape the paddle and sides during this process.
- Add the egg yolk to the mixer, saving the egg white for later in the recipe. Mix on low until a stiff, yellow dough forms. This will take about 30 seconds.
- Move this dough to a work surface and use your hands to form it into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Next make the gooey butter topping. There's no need to clean the stand mixer, just get all of the tart dough out of it and add in the butter and sugar. Beat until well combined and fluffy.
- Add in the almond flour and beat again to combine.
- Add in the egg, egg white, vanilla, salt and flour and mix on medium until a smooth, fluffy, icing-like texture forms.
- Spoon this topping into a small bowl and put it in the fridge to chill.
- Let both the tart dough and topping chill while you preheat the oven to 350F.
- When the oven is ready, use a rolling pin to roll out the tart dough to about 1' thick. It will be hard to handle if you roll it any thinner, so stop here.
- Grab a 9" tart pan or cake tin and place the tart dough inside. Use your hands or the back of a wooden spoon to press the dough all the way to the edges.
- When the dough fully covers the bottom of the tart pan, prick it a few times with a fork.
- Next spread the gooey butter topping evenly on top, and add the fruit as you like.
- Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until the top of the tart is a very light brown.
- Slice and serve!
i only have apples so would they taste good with the cake?? also i could use an electric hand mixer as well right instead of the stand mixer. i’ll be trying to make it and will open my iftaar with it!! really excited!!
Apples would be amazing! Slice them thinly so they cook through – but you should be all set for this one!
Very good article. I certainly appreciate this website. Keep writing!
Can I sub out all-purpose for the almond flour? I want to make this for a friend who is allergic to nuts.
Unfortunately your best substitution would be a 1:1 gluten free flour blend – I like using King Arthur Flour brand when looking for one!