Gooey Butter Cake
I've heard Paula Deen say this is the most requested dessert in the Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, GA and I can see why. It's so delicious, versatile to make to suit many different tastes, holidays, and seasons, and best of all it's easy to make at home. As a matter of fact, when Paula started her first business, The Bag Lady, this was the dessert she made to go with the bagged lunches. It's really stood the test of time!
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Instructions
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients for the crust well and pat into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Set aside and prepare filling.
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Step 2
Beat cream cheese with hand mixer until smooth, then add eggs and vanilla, add butter and beat well. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Spread the filling over the cake crust mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes, being careful NOT TO OVERBAKE. You want the center to be a little gooey.
The top will be slightly browned when it's done and I let mine sit in the pan for a good little while before I cut into pieces.
Note
Seems like I've seen Paula Deen make a million variations of this recipe; here are a few of her ideas:
Add 15 oz can of pumpkin to the filling with cinnamon and nutmeg (I've done this and used a spice cake mix as well), add 20 oz can of drained crushed pineapple to the filling, use a lemon cake mix and add lemon juice and zest to the filling, use a chocolate cake and add chocolate chips on top, use a spiced carrot cake mix and add nuts and shredded carrots to the filling, use mandarin oranges, bananas, blueberries, or strawberries and coordinating extracts, and Patrick's favorite is to use a chocolate cake mix, and about a cup of peanut butter to the filling. And I just found this amazing sounding Elvis Gooey Butter Cake variety from her website, too. I can't wait to try this one!
