The Best Gooey Butter Cake Recipe (From Scratch) (2024)

FAQs

Why is gooey butter cake so good? ›

Gooey Butter Cake is a St. Louis original with a yeast-raised bottom layer and a rich, buttery baked custard layer made with eggs, corn syrup, and sugar on top. It is a deliciously sweet treat that is more like a cross between a chewy brownie or bar cookie and a dense coffee cake than its name implies.

Try switching out any water in your recipe for full-fat milk or buttermilk for a moist, decadent texture. Another ingredient that can enhance the moisture of your cake is mayonnaise. Adding a dollop of mayonnaise to your batter can help make your freshly baked cake softer with an added boost of moisture.

Gooey butter cake is a type of cake traditionally made in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a flat and dense cake made with wheat cake flour, butter, sugar, and eggs, typically near an inch tall, and dusted with powdered sugar.

Oil cakes tend to bake up loftier with a more even crumb and stay moist and tender far longer than cakes made with butter. So why do most cake recipes start with butter? Flavor. Cakes made with butter often taste better than oil cakes.

Ensure you wrap the butter cake with foil or glad wrap and then pop it into an air tight container to prevent the cake from drying out in the fridge.

Sticky cake and cupcake tops are from a reaction with sugar and water. Sugars are hygroscopic, meaning they attract water. Within baked goods, sugars help maintain a moist and tender crumb. Sugar on the exposed tops, however, will grab water from humid air, creating a wet or sticky top.

The ingredients are truly pantry staples: eggs, butter, flour, sugar, baking soda, and buttermilk. Don't skip the buttermilk. Buttermilk is essential for the rise of the cake and its tender texture.

There are two main types of cakes: butter cakes (also known as shortened cakes) and foam cakes. The distinction between these two broad categories of cake is in the fat content.

Crisco® all-vegetable shortening will make your cakes moist, pie crusts flaky, and cookies soft and fluffy, with 0g of trans fat per serving*. One look, and you'll see why we've got butter beat.

Most cakes will call for a leavening agent like baking powder or baking soda. These create the bubbles you need for the cake to rise.

Is it better to use milk or water in cake mix? ›

Baking tip #2: adding milk to your box cake mix in place of water adds a dense texture to your dessert leaving it moist and flavorful like a homemade cake. Or, if you prefer, you can add buttermilk, giving your cake a tangy flavor to balance out the sweetness.

It is possible to get sick from eating a cake that has been undercooked, but it is unlikely. You would be at a much greater risk if you eat chicken or fish that was not properly cooked. You could end up getting food poisoning or salmonella.

The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.

The cake can be stored at room temperature for 2- 3 days. Be sure to store it in an airtight container or use aluminum foil or plastic wrap to help keep them from drying out. You can also store it in the refrigerator for 4-5 days and serve it chilled but it won't be as gooey.