Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Be prepared… I’m on a gooey butter cake kick.

I brought a pumpkin gooey butter cake to a gathering last week. It was a hit and the recipe was requested by many people. It was then I realized that I never posted a recipe for it on my blog! It would be helpful, since I do make this from time to time and always have to hunt down multiple sources where I mixed and matched recipes to get my version.

The first gooey butter cake I’ve ever attempted was a pumpkin gooey butter cake from the “Butter Queen,” Paula Deen. However, it used boxed cake mix in the crust. I liked the ease of it but at the same time, there’s just that artificial flavor that I could taste. So I used a yellow cake recipe from scratch which turned out much better. I switched this up a bit from my last recipe and used cake flour instead of all-purpose. It made the crust a bit easier to cut through.

Although not a St. Louis original, I like the pumpkin version of gooey butter cake since the pumpkin mellows out sweetness of it’s non-pumpkin counterpart.  Without further ado, here’s the recipe.

CRUST:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons whole milk

 

FILLING:

• 1 8-oz package of cream cheese
• 15-oz can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 lb of powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg

 

Preheat oven to 350°F

Make the crust:
Spray the bottom of a 9?x13? baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Mix together sugar, flour, salt and baking soda. Add egg, milk and melted butter to combine. Press mixture on the bottom of  the baking pan.

Make the filling:
Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until softened. Add pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg and continue beating until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly combined. Scrape down bowl as necessary. Slowly add powdered sugar in small increments (otherwise it will explode all over the place). Scrape down the bowl and add butter and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Pour over crust.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until center is jiggly. Don’t overbake or it will not be “gooey”.

Allow to sit for about an hour before cutting into it. Yes, that’s the hardest part. Top with powdered sugar or eat with whipped cream.

It’s pure tasty-goodness. 🙂 I find any excuse to make this every Fall—I’m sure you will, too!

What are your favorite Fall or pumpkin recipes? I’d like to hear them in the comments below!