Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake Recipe – How to Make it in 13 Simple Steps

With a tasty cake base topped with a gooey, creamy filling and studded with tangy blueberries, our recipe for Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake is a perfect summer treat. You can create this recipe and keep some of it in the fridge to serve when unexpected guests show up.

Created by accident in the 1930s, gooey butter cake is a St. Louis, Missouri staple. It features a layer of cake batter topped with a layer of creamy, gooey sweetness. Legend says that a new baker hired at John Hoffman’s bakery got some ingredients of a dessert recipe mixed up. Since this happened during the Great Depression when food was never wasted, the baker went ahead and baked the resulting concoction.

The result was a flat, rich, decadent dessert that sold incredibly well in the St. Louis area. The bakers continued making this treat. However, it remained a regional confection for quite some time. When salesmen tried to offer it to other markets, it never did well. People from other areas just never found the cake appealing.

However, in the early 2000s Paula Deen came onto the cooking scene. One recipe that she popularized across the United States is the Gooey Butter Cake, the classic St. Louis dessert. While she didn’t invent it, her cookbooks and cooking shows introduced this recipe to many who had never experienced it before.

Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake Recipe

April Freeman

Featuring the texture of cream cheese and the tangy summer flavor of blueberries in a scrumptious, lightly sweetened crust, our recipe for Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake is a cross between a blueberry cheesecake and a tasty bar cookie. This recipe is perfect to bring to a potluck barbecue or just to have on hand for an after dinner treat for the whole family. 

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Prep Time 20 mins

Baking Time 50 mins

Total Time 1 hr 10 mins

Course Dessert Recipes

Cuisine American

Servings 15 Servings

Equipment

• 9×13-Inch Baking Pan
• Medium-Sized Bowl
• Small Microwave-Safe Bowl
• Electric Mixer
• Spatula

Ingredients

  

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• 2¾ cups Flour
• 1½ cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• ½ cup Butter
• 1 pc Egg
• ¼ cup Milk
• 8 ounces Packaged Cream Cheese softened at room temperature
• ¼ cup Melted Butter
• 2 pcs Eggs
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1½ cups Fresh Blueberries

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set this pan aside while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
• First, you will make the crust. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave the butter until it is melted.
• Drizzle the butter into the dry ingredients, stirring the whole time. Add the egg and the milk and stir well. The mixture should be a little crumbly.
• Press the crust mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan into an even layer. Press the crust firmly into place so that it sticks together in a layer.
  
• Set this aside while you create the topping mixture. Use a paper towel to wipe out the bowl in which you created the crust.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth. Add the ¼ cup of melted butter, the eggs, the vanilla and the lemon juice. Beat this until smooth and all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition.
  
• Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top of the prepared crust, spreading it smooth with a spatula to fully cover the bottom layer of the cake.
• Wash the blueberries well and pat them dry, checking them for any stems, twigs or leaves that may have been missed in packaging. You can do this by pouring them into a clean dish towel and gathering the corners of the towel up to make a little bundle. Gently pour the berries into a clean bowl.
• Scatter the cleaned berries over the top of the cream cheese topping, evenly distributing them in a layer over the top of the cake.
  
• Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes or until it is lightly browned around the edges. The center of the cake will still be a little jiggly, but that’s okay. It will firm up as it cools.
• Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about an hour. At this point you can slice it into squares and serve it, but really, this cake is much better when chilled. You probably want to chill it for at least 2 hours.
  
• If you like, you can sprinkle the squares with confectioners sugar before serving.
• Keep leftovers in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for up to a week. This recipe freezes well. To freeze, wrap the squares in aluminum foil and place in a zip top freezer bag. Store in the fridge for up to three months. To thaw, remove the squares from the wrappings and allow them to thaw overnight in a lidded container in a single layer.

Notes

Our recipe for Blueberry Gooey Butter Bars is a twist on the classic favorite. While many recipes for the original treat call for the use of a cake mix as the bottom layer, our recipe creates the cakey crust from scratch. We add a layer of cream cheese batter with a tiny twist of lemon flavoring over top of the cake layer and sprinkle blueberries over all of this. It is a wonderful treat that is great to bring to a brunch or just to keep around as a sweet afternoon indulgence. 

You can use frozen blueberries in this recipe if that is all you have on hand. However, you should thaw them slightly and drain as much liquid from them as you can before you sprinkle them over the top of the cake. 

Keyword Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake, Dessert, Recipe

Meals: All Recipes | Breakfast | Dinner (Mains) | Dessert | Side Dishes | Soups | Appetizers | Salads | Snacks

Dishes: Pasta | Chicken | Ground Beef | Casseroles | Rice | Potato | Pies | Cookies | Sausage | Bread | Cakes | Pancakes | Cheesecakes | Scones

Key Ingredients: Cream Cheese

Other: Quick Dinners (Under 45 min.)

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