Gooey Butter Cake with an Almond Twist
The traditional gooey butter cake has been around since the 1930s. The simplest recipes include a box of cake mix along with butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and eggs. Put these ingredients together and you get a dense cake layer topped with a custard-y, gooey sweet cream cheese layer. This recipe has an almond twist adding layers of almond flavoring with a thin crusty almond topping.
Servings: 12 large bars
Ingredients
Cake layer:
- 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix
- 113 g (8 tbsp / 1 stick) butter softened
- 1.5 g (¼ tsp) salt, if using UNSALTED butter no salt if using salted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp (.15 oz) vanilla extract
- ½ tsp (.08 oz) almond extract
Cream cheese layer:
- 226 g (8 oz) cream cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp (.16 oz) almond extract
- 453 g (4 cups /1 lb / 16 oz) powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- ½ cup (45 g) almond slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F (177˚C). Grease or parchment line a 9-x13-inch baking dish.TIP: If using parchment paper, cut the corners down to where the paper meets the inside bottom of the pan. Overlap the flaps and trim as desired. The paper allows for easy cake remove once baked.
- In a medium bowl mix together cake mix, butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir until combined. The mixture will be stiff.TIP: You could mix the ingredients in a stand mixer.
- Press mixture evenly into the parchment-lined or greased baking dish.
- In the same medium bowl, add cream cheese and beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Add eggs and almond extract. Beat again until the mixture is smooth. Then add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and then increase speed until mixture is smooth. It will be a thin, runny mixture.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake layer and smooth out the top. Scatter sliced almonds over the cream cheese layer to cover the cake evenly
- Bake the cake for 40 minutes. The edges and top should be golden brown and crusty.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool 2-3 hours. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar and serve.TIPS: Wait to add the powdered sugar until the cake has cooled or the powdered sugar will melt if the cake is too warm. You can get 12 large bars if you cut four rows down and three rows across.
Video
Notes
Storage Suggestions:
You can store the bars covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. In a warm environment, it's best to store the bars covered in the fridge for up to a week.
Holiday Variation:
For holiday flavor, add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, gingerbread pie spice, or cinnamon to the cake layer.