Thursday, March 25, 2010

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake


I grew up in a small town in southeast Iowa, a mere 5 hour drive from St. Louis, a city I visited several times over the years. Why then, had I never heard of a St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake until recently?


The first time I saw this cake was a few months ago - soon after it was published in the New York Times. It was the name that got me; how could anything with the words "gooey" and "butter" in it be a bad thing. So descriptive, so evocative, yet so mysterious... What in the world was this gooey butter cake?! I had to find out. After reading more about it I knew I had to make it. However things came up, as things tend to do, and I forgot about it. Until Deb made it recently. Seeing hers made me fairly obsessed, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get it out of my mind until I was taking it out of my oven. Yesterday was the day. The day I finally got around to baking this oh-so-ugly, yet oh-so-tasty cake.


This cake starts with a layer of lightly sweetened brioche-like yeasted dough, and is topped with something gooey, buttery, rich, butterscotch-flavored, delicious. When put together, they create a treat very reminiscent of a cinnamon roll - though there is actually no cinnamon in the recipe... The cake itself is tasty, though not spectacular - it is far out-shined by the gooey topping, which is out of this world. It would be amazing on a shortbread crust. The yeast cake is a little on the dry side, but I think if the quantity of the gooey topping was doubled it would off-set the dryness. It should be noted that my cake is darker than the other gooey butter cakes out there, as I sweetened it with palm sugar.



St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
adapted from The New York Times


Cake Layer:
3-5 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons water
1 3/4 tablespoons instant yeast
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons palm sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups unbleached white flour


Gooey Topping:
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon agave (I used amber)
2 tablespoons water
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup + 3 tablespoons unbleached white flour


Make the Cake:
Butter a 9x13 baking pan, set aside. Combine water and 3 tablespoons of milk in a small saucepan, and heat until it reaches about 90 degrees. Pour into a small bowl, and add yeast. Whisk to combine. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, palm sugar and salt. Beat in egg. Add 1/3 of the flour, then half of the yeast/milk mixture, stirring to combine with each addition. Repeat for a total of 3 flour additions and 2 milk additions. Beat dough on medium speed until it is smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, about 7-10 minutes. At this point, if the dough seems too dry, add the additional milk. The dough should be a bit loose and slightly sticky to the touch. Press dough evenly into your prepared baking pan. Cover with kitchen towel and set in a warm place until dough has doubled. About 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Towards the end of the rise, preheat oven to 350.

Make Gooey Topping:
In a small bowl, combine agave, water and vanilla. Set aside. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add egg, and beat until combined. Add flour in three additions alternating with agave mixture in two additions. Stir until just combined. Spoon topping over risen dough, and spread as gently and evenly as possible. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake will not be flat when baked - it will have hills and valleys all over the surface. It will not be attractive. Top will be deep golden, and center will still be liquid when done. Cool in pan before cutting. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, if desired.


14 comments:

  1. GOD BLESS YOU FOR BUTTER CAKE! In high school I dated a boy whose family was from Chicago and his grandmother made this mouth-watering butter cake for Easter. I fell head over heels over this ooegy gooey cake, but after we broke up 10 years ago I have never seen nor eaten this heavenly cake again. That is until day. Until I found your blog and now the hole in my cake life has been filled with delicious butter.

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  2. Be still my heart. That cake looks SO moist. I must try this!

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  3. MMMM!!!! Looks really good. Adding to my list which is getting AWFULLY long...

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  4. I made this cake on Oscar Sunday, based on the same recipe (which I'd found on SmittenKitchen). I thought it was delicious, but definitely best on the first day. The yeast cake on the bottom gets a bit dry after that, so I think next time I really will take it out of the oven when the top is a bit more jiggly.

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  5. Sounds delicious! Perhaps with a tall glass of milk or with my coffee in the morning! Google friended yah! Cheers~

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  6. Mmmmm this looks good. I don't know why but I associate butter with flavour.

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  7. I saw your profile on Food Buzz and checked out the blog. It's very well done. Wonderful recipe for the gooey butter cake. Always nice to meet a fellow foodie. Have a great day!

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  8. I lived in St. Louis for three years when I was a girl and have dreamed about Gooey Butter Cake ever since. There are imitation recipes out there that call for cream cheese and yellow cake mixes, but they don't come close to the real thing. I have been searching the 'net for a good recipe for it and will have to give yours a try. I am so excited!!

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  9. Oh my, this looks so good. I love that kind of cake but never had a recipe.. thanks for sharing and great photos

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  10. I love Gooey Butter Cake!!! I've always used a cake mix and cream cheese and thought it was amazing. I can't imagine how good this is!!

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  11. This sounds unbelievably good! I have to add this to my recipe list.

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  12. This is an excellent butter cake recipe! I have tried making this for our family get together and it was definitely a hit!! It went really well with a hot cup of coffee made from one of our classic coffee machines Thanks for sharing. Kudos!

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  13. Very interesting recipe. I hadn't heard of St. Louis Gooey Butter Cakes.... and I lived IN St. Louis. Thanks for passing this recipe along.

    :)
    ButterYum

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