These brownies are an amazing and decadent spin on a traditional gooey butter cake recipe.
One day, many years ago, my daddy brought home a 9×13 baking dish full of this gooey yellow concoction that a lady at work had made for him. We were all pretty leery of it, to tell you the truth. It looked like cheesecake but it was warm. That’s not right, you guys.
Then he told us the name. Gooey Butter Cake. We didn’t hesitate to dive face first into that pan. I mean, the name alone sounds heavenly.
We all know that gooey butter cake has been done to death. (I’ve made chocolate chip gooey butter cookies and a red velvet gooey butter cake myself), but this isn’t cake! This is brownies.
Gooey butter brownies. It’s okay if you just died right then. The sweet, gooey burst of buttery chocolate will revive you.
I’ve been in a total baking slump these last couple of months. How many types of brownies and cookies can one person make anyway? It’s been lots and lots of savory recipes around here, which really doesn’t bother me at all. I know y’all like some desserts mixed in though, so I racked my brain for a new brownie recipe and this is what popped up. Guys. It’s genius. I hope you’ll make these, because they are so, so good!
Gooey Butter Brownies
Ingredients
For the brownies:
- 1 box brownie mix
- 1 large egg
- 8 tablespoons butter melted
For the topping:
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 8 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 16 ounces powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- To make the brownie base, mix together the dry mix, egg, and melted butter. Spread into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
- To make the topping, beat together the cream cheese, eggs, vanilla, butter, and powdered sugar until well combined. Spread over the brownies.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the center is still slightly jiggly and gooey.
- Cool before cutting and serving.
Nutrition Information:
Katrina @ WVS says
Oh man!! So much yummy goo. These look great!
Judy says
@Katrina @ WVS, do you really use a whole box of powdered sugar??
Erin | The Law Student's Wife says
The ooey gooey gods are going to rain down their blessings upon you for this one!
Melissa {Persnickety Plates} says
I love “slightly jiggly & gooey” centers 😉
[email protected] says
All I can say to this is YES! YES! YES!
Stephanie Phelps says
This looks amazing!!!!!! I think I will be making these soon for my family!
Josie Burt says
Hey Karly you have done a pretty good job at doing your job and posting things on you website
Teresa says
We claim to have invented the gooey butter bars here in STL and they have been reinvented so many times, but these are my favorites. I use a caterer who also puts mini chocolate chips in the gooey butter part of these bars. I have been getting them to eat the day before Lent begins, amongs other times! They are sooo delicious.
There is even a gooey butter bakery here.
Yours look so good, I’m going to try them. Your food is the best!
Karly says
@Teresa,
I must visit that gooey butter bakery some day! 🙂
Kellie says
16 TBSP of butter? WHOA!!! I gained weight just reading that LOLOL. That said, dang that looks yummy!!!
Karly says
@Kellie,
A little butter is good for the soul. 😉
Angelyn @ Everyday Desserts says
woah. I need three of these right now.
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
What a brilliant idea! These look great!
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup says
Cream cheese and brownies. YUM! Thanks so much for this recipe. Your pics are stunning, as usual.
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I’m sorry, I think I just died. That top layer…no words. Pinned!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
definitely craving one of these now (or a whole batch)… they look divine! love the recipe, thanks for sharing!
Medeja says
These brownies look really good! I can understand why you liked them 🙂
Chelsea @chelseasmessyapron says
Oh my heck those look so awesome!! Your photos are totally making me drool! They almost look like creme brulee brownies 🙂 Love this Karly!
Maria says
What a fun and delicious brownie!
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life says
Woah!!!! I am dying over these gooey brownies! I think I need about 4 of those with my coffee right now!!! Yum!
tanya says
Best three words in the English language Karly!! You done good, real good!
Rachel Cooks says
holy crap. Gimme the whole pan.
Joanne says
You really can’t go wrong when you combine the words gooey+butter+brownies. I mean, that’s like a life rule!
April says
Made this for dinner and it didn’t last long. Everyone wanted seconds and it is our new favourite dessert.
Karly says
@April,
Wonderful! Glad you liked them! 🙂
Tash says
*Drool* I’ll take 1000!!
These look amazing.
Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen says
Incredible! Can’t wait to make these!
dina says
oh these look so tempting!
Tracy | Pale Yellow says
I made gooey chocolate chip cookie dough cake for my friend for her birthday because she is from the St. Louis area. So when I saw this recipe I email it to her to ask if it was too much, not too much! This looks fantastic!
Renee @ Tortillas and Honey says
I absolutely adore gooey butter cakes and I love the twist that you’ve done with this recipe! I HAVE to have this right now!!!
Willow @ Will Cook For Friends says
I’m pretty sure a little part of me died and went to heaven just LOOKING at these brownies. To be completely honest, I like my brownies really classic and not too gussied up… but dump that pan of gooey butter cake on top, and I will not complain! These could be waaaay too dangerous if I don’t have a large group of people to pawn most of them off on, that’s for sure!
Staci Cass says
I only have a ceramic dish to bake in. Will I change the baking time?
Angie says
I have a question. I started to make this per the directions with just the brownie mix, butter, and egg. It is very, very, thick. On the box of brownie mix itself, it says to add water, and oil. I am not sure whether to include these two ingredients that were not listed. Help!
Karly says
Hi @Angie,
You don’t add the ingredients called for on the box. Just use the egg and butter. The batter will definitely be thick. Spread it in the pan and top with the cream cheese mixture and it will come out just right. 🙂
Angie says
I am making this right now. The mix just lists brownie mix, butter, and egg. The mix is really, really thick! The box of brownie mix calls for oil, and water to be added. I don’t know whether to add these two ingredients of not, since they weren’t listed. Help!
Emily @ Life on Food says
My lips are smacking!! So good!
Kimmie says
I made this last night, the “brownie crust” came out very chewy. Is it supposed to be like that? I know with regular gooey butter cake, it’s has a chewy, cookie like crust, but this was a really tough chewy. =(
Karly says
@Kimmie,
Hmm, no it shouldn’t be tough. It’s definitely chewier and more dense than a traditional brownie, though.
lcharles says
This may be a silly question, but I don’t bake. Can I use a glass baking dish?
Karly says
@lcharles,
Yeah, absolutely! 🙂
Babette Hiestand says
I grew up in StL and know Gooey Butter Coffee Cake in the depths of my soul. Sorry, but not even this can compare to the real thing. The REAL thing has a yeast bottom crust that acts as a conduit for the topping…does not compete with the utterly delicious gooeyness of it. And NO cream cheese. It uses corn syrup to achieve its melting texture. Go to St Louis and experience it.
Ace says
I like the sound of this recipe. But I love Peanut butter with my chocolate. Would it be alright if I added a little of my powdered peanut butter to the butter topping?
Karly says
@Ace,
I haven’t tried it myself. Sounds good though! You can certainly try, but please know that the topping probably won’t have the same consistency.
Jack L says
What size brownie mix? I never use mixes; my wife purchased a mix for this recipe and the box says use an 8 x 8 pan….
Thanks
jack
Jan says
I wondered the same thing. WHAT SIZE BOX OF BROWNIE MIX?
Karly says
@Jan,
I use a box that is made for a 9×13 pan.
jack says
@Jack L,
I used two Betty Crocker 8×8 standard brownie mixes with two eggs and 1/2 stick more butter. Worked out perfectly! The topping is out of this world. I divided the 9×13 pan into 24 servings, as they are rich! The brownie portion turned out dense, and very fudgy. Received favorable comments from the dessert bar attendees.
Perhaps the recipe was written when the brownie mixes filled a 9×13 pan. KAF also has a brownie mix recipe that would work perfectly for this recipe.
Will make again for a crowd, NEVER for home. Too many calories for my household!
Karly says
@Jack L,
I use a mix for a 9×13 pan.
JB says
I made these last night. I’m having two issues. The first one is that it’s seriously sickeningly sweet. I felt like my lips were glued together after two bites. If I try this again, I’m drastically reducing the sugar.
The other thing might be my fault. I don’t like using boxed mixes, so I made my own from scratch brownies, I used the recipe for cake like brownies, to give the topping a nice base. Well, I ended up with the gooey topping on raw brownie batter. It didn’t cook at all, except for the edges. Do I HAVE to use a boxed mix?
I think these would probably be pretty good if the sweetness wasn’t so overwhelming and the brownies weren’t raw. As is now, I have a big pile of goo that tastes like straight up sugar. My very much sugar loving kids didn’t even like it.
I would like to try again, but do I *have* to get a boxed mix for this?
jack says
@JB,
Try the KAF brownie mix recipe (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/make-your-own-brownie-mix-recipe).
The issue is probably the eggs and fat (liquids) used in the standard brownie recipes. This recipe produces a dense, fudgy base for the topping.
Also, we refrigerated the product in a professional fridge overnight. Turned out quite solid until we let them warm up a bit.
JackL
Brie says
@JB, I had the same problem regarding the sweetness. The topping had way too much powdered sugar in it for my tastes. I was worried that the texture wouldn’t come out right though so I used the amount in the recipe. If I make this again I will use less sugar and maybe more cream cheese.
Brie says
I have to add now that when I had it the next day it tasted much better. The topping had soaked into the brownie more and it had more flavor and wasn’t as sweet. It was really yummy and gooey!
I used this brownie recipe since I didn’t have a mix: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-brownies/
It worked well because these brownies are made to have frosting, so I just left off the frosting and used the butter topping. The sweet topping complemented the more chocolate-y brownies. The only thing I would change is I would make more of the brownie part in order to fit a 13 by 9 pan. We used an 8 by 8 pan and ended up with more topping than brownie, and I can see that isn’t how this recipe was intended to work out.
MySweet says
I made these tonight looking forward to a really oozy buttery topping like shown. Except, the top came out really light and fluffy like a cake almost but not as dense obviously. So what did I do wrong? I added all ingredients exactly except I cut the powdered sugar by at least half but I don’t think that would make it less gooey at all. If anything that should of made it more gooey.
What happened do you think?
Karly says
@MySweet,
I would have to assume that the problem was cutting the sugar in half. I’ve used this topping many times and it’s always come out gooey. Also, be sure not to over bake or the topping will firm up too much.
MySweet says
@Karly,
Thank you for the quick feedback, I really appreciate it. 🙂
Thinking back I may have cooked it too long because I felt the brownies were not cooking and the center of the topping was really jiggly, so I kept cooking. Maybe that’s where I went wrong.
Also, could over beating cause the consistency to firm up? Because I also may have mixed the topping too long
Karly says
@MySweet,
No problem! 🙂
I’m guessing that your biggest issue was overcooking. The topping should be a bit jiggly. I don’t think overbeating the mixture would be a problem.
If you try again, use the full amount of sugar (I know it’s a lot, but it’s dessert! Haha!) and be careful to pull them from the oven when they’re still a bit jiggly in the center. They’ll firm up as they set.
Laurie says
I followed the directions and everything. The butter cake came out fine. Not gooey like the picture but it was still yummy. The one problem I had was the brownie came out thin and still not cooked. How do I fix this?
Karly says
Hi Laurie!
I’m not sure what the problem would be. Every oven is different, so maybe bake a bit longer next time? Sorry I’m not more help.
debbie says
I am going to add mini chocolate chips to the ooey gooey on top. We had some from the store that way. My husband will over these free his bday.
Cynthia says
I made these with my 3 year old daughter today. They are delicious! And easy enough to share the mixing tasks with her. She had a blast and we have a new family favorite. Thanks!
Karly says
Sounds like you guys had fun together! 🙂
debby says
How much gram for brownies mix?
And can you recommend for brownies mix merk you using?
Thank you very much.
Karly says
I just buy a mix for a 9×13 pan. I don’t know how many grams are in the box. And I generally buy Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker – I don’t have a favorite. 🙂
debby says
Thank you for your reply.
In my country (indonesian) don’t have Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker brownies mix.
But I can use local merk brownies mix, because I’m really really want try your recipe.
Now I’m confusion, use brownies mix for steamed or for baked?
Because in my kitchen, I’m only have brownies mix for steamed.
Can I use it? Or buy brownies mix for baked?
And if I use brownies mix for steamed can I must combine chocolate filling/frosting (incluede box brownies mix for steamed) to brownies mix with egg and butter?
Thank you very much.
Karly says
Hi Debby! I think you’ll want to use a baked mix for this. I’ve never seen a steamed mix, so I don’t know how that would work out.
Christina says
These are delicious! I made them for my coworkers and now everyone asks when I’m going to make more “crack”. They’re addicting!! Thank you for posting this recipe ?
Vicky Rozmaryn says
I have made these and other gooey bars, but I use a jelly roll pan .They are thinner but just as good and it makes more to share. less cook time