I spent this past weekend visiting my family in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. I always like to bake something when I am there (more people to eat my food!) so I decided to make a St. Louis original – Gooey Butter Cake! This cake is usually eaten as a breakfast coffee cake, and as the name indicates, it is rich!! The legend of the Gooey Butter Cake is that it was first made in the 1930s by accident. A German American baker in South St. Louis reversed the proportions of sugar and flour while trying to make regular cake batter, and the rest is history. (Read more about it here). There are several different recipes out there for this cake. The version that I grew up eating has a thin layer of dense, moist cake on the bottom and then is topped with a gooey, buttery filling. Yes, it is made with cake mix which some people might think is cheating. But I say why not take a little help when you can get it! This recipe came from my mom’s cousin, although it is very similar to Paula Dean’s recipe …
