St Louis Gooey Butter Cake

So, If there is anyone in the world that does not follow Smitten Kitchen religiously, they are missing out on so many good meals! I made Deb's St Louis Gooey Butter Cake last night for the dinner party and it tastes just as good as it looks. This was an "oh my god, this might be the best thing I've ever tasted and there's not ANY chocolate in it" moment. I will make this again...and again.

We only had 5 for dinner last night and ate half the pan. I also must say that the cake was still very palatable this morning with my cup of coffee. The gooey-ness seems to have lessened, but the taste, oh the taste, is still incredible!

Disclaimer: This is not health food. I haven't figured out the points, but sufficient to say you should not eat more than 1 or 2 pieces. Rob ate 3 last night and thought 4 might make him sick. That being said, I ran out of white flour while making the cake portion and used 1/4 cup whole wheat flour instead. The dessert still tasted amazing. I think next time I will try half white and half whole wheat for the cake and maybe even make it to 100% whole wheat flour. I would stick with white flour for the topping though and I went to the store while the cake was rising and bought more flour.

Here is a link to the original post. You really should go there, she takes some awesome photos.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/st-louis-gooey-butter-cake/

And here is the recipe with my minor modifications.

St Louis Gooey Butter Cake
makes 24 pieces (which really only serves about 12 people)


For the cake
3 tablespoons milk at room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon corn syrup (recipe says light corn syrup, but I only had dark)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling.

Make the cake dough: In a small bowl, mix milk with 2 Tablespoons warm water. Add yeast and whisk gently until it dissolves. Mixture should foam slightly.

Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and the milk mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition. You could switch to a dough hook at this point, but I stuck with the paddle attachment and it worked just fine. Either way, beat the dough on medium speed until it forms a smooth mass and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Press, stretch and nudge dough into a buttered 9-by 13-inch glass baking dish at least 2 inches deep. Cover dish with plastic wrap or clean tea towel, put in a warm place, and allow to rise until doubled, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Make the gooey topping: Heat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare topping, in a small bowl, whisk corn syrup with 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla. Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in the egg. Alternately add flour and corn syrup mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition.

Spoon topping in large dollops over risen cake and use an offset spatula to gently spread it in an even layer. Bake for approximately 30 until the top of the cake is a golden brown and does not jiggle. Cake will rise and fall in waves and have a golden brown top, but will still be liquid in center when done. Allow to cool in pan before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar for serving.