Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake

I have wanted to try Paula Deen's Gooey Butter Cake for the longest time. There is no way I was baking this recipe for just my family. My husband doesn't really eat sweets and the kids are too little to eat very much. Ah yes, the "burden" to eat that whole cake would fall on my shoulders. And I would. Sweet and rich as it is, I'd probably still find a way to put it away. On my hips...on my thighs... Anyway, I know myself well enough to not bake a whole gooey butter cake just because I want to try a recipe. What I needed was a reason to bake the gooey butter cake. Today that reason arrived in the form of a church potluck dinner. Have you guys been to a potluck? You've gotta love the potluck dinner! Everyone brings their best salad, covered dish, or dessert. I try to save my calories all day before partaking of the smorgasbord that is a church potluck dinner.

One of the ladies sitting at my table this evening confided that she likes to experiment with her potluck dishes. She knows whether or not her experiment turned out well if anyone eats what she brought. If her dish is still full at the end of the dinner, she waits until no one is looking to sweep it off of the table so that no one knows who brought it. I had to laugh.

Well let me tell ya, if you bring this Gooey Butter Cake to your potluck dinner, pitch-in, cook out, or whatever...you won't have to drag home any leftovers. Bonus points if you take it still warm from the oven. Boy is it ever good!

Let's get started by making the foundation for this cake. You might guess that you'll need some of this:


You'll need some of this too:

Lucky me. I got to brush up on my Spanish while reading the instructions on the cake mix.

Melt the butter in a bowl and then dump in the cake mix and an egg.


Mix well with an electric mixer.


Now, with very clean hands, let's press the dough into the bottom of a buttered 9 X 13 inch pan. My four year old loved having this job.


For the filling you're going to combine another stick of butter (it's called butter cake for a reason, people!) with 8 oz. of cream cheese. I beat until smooth.


You'll also need to add in a pound of powdered sugar, a couple of eggs, and some vanilla. Mix well. It should look about like this when you're finished.


Pour the filling over the cake mixture.


Spread the filling evenly over the cake. I added my own little touch here with some pretty blue and pink sugar sprinkled across the top. I was thinking Easter...


Now into the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. You can just imagine how amazing your house will smell as this bakes. Mouth-watering good.


You know you want to try some...


Here's the recipe:


Gooey Butter Cake


Ingredients & Directions:
Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Prepare Filling

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar


In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen and Random House Publishing