Two for One Deal on Nolstagia

I'm originally from St. Louis, and in the world of food St. Louis is known for two things:  fried ravioli and gooey butter cakes.  Since this is a baking blog, ravioli doesn't really fit...but you should make it sometime, it is really good.  I want to talk about the other thing, which you probably haven't heard of in reality, the gooey butter cake.

Legend has it that this cake came by of accident in a 1930's bakery, where a new baker used the wrong type of butter smear.  There's two types of smears in this story, a deep butter smear and a gooey butter smear.  The later is used as an adhesive to make things like crumbs, nuts, ect stick to unbaked pastries and cakes.  This new baker was hired to make deep butter cakes, which use the deep butter smear, but the baker got them mixed up and used the gooey butter smear instead.  The mistake was eventually caught, but it was too late to do anything about it.  Rather than throw them away, the cakes were baked off and sold.  The cakes sold so well, they were kept and became a St. Louis favorite.

Of course there's several different versions of gooey butter cakes.  Paula Deen's very fond of them and her recipes, like a number of others out there, use a box of cake mix.  To me though, the authentic recipe uses a yeast dough as the base, so that's the recipe I'm using.  And since we're also talking about deep butter cakes...why not make one of those too?

It's worth noting that both of these cakes are actually considered coffee cakes.



Gooey Butter Cake

The gooey butter cake is done in two steps, the base and the gooey layer.  Since the bottom layer in this recipe is yeast based, it's a little similar to bread making.  Also, the recipe I use makes two cakes, but for this case I only made half the amount.

 

Heat milk until warm, and put into a bowl.  Sprinkle the yeast over and let it sit for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar til light and fluffy, scrape down the bowl and add the egg.  Then add the flour and salt, alternating with the milk in several additions.  Then let the dough mix for about 5 minutes.

Spread the dough into an even layer in a greased pan, then let it rise for two hours.  I warmed my oven slightly and put a pot of hot water in the oven as well to create proofer.

When it is close to two hours, go ahead and make the gooey layer.  Cream the butter and sugar, add the corn syrup and vanilla.  Scrape the bowl and add the egg, mix and then add flour and milk.

Put the gooey layer mix on top of the risen dough and spread to almost the edges.  This layer will spread more as it bakes.  Put in a 350 oven, and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

 Garnish with powdered sugar and enjoy.  You'll see in the second picture the gooey layer on top of the more cakey layer.  In some recipes the gooey layer is more liquidy and in others is even more dry.

Deep Butter Cake

To start out for this cake, make crumbs by mixing butter, sugar, vanilla, butter flavor, salt and flour.  Refrigerate the crumbs while making the cake batter.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, vanilla and butter flavor and mix.   Scrape down the bowl and add the flour, salt and milk.

 Put the crumb mixture in the bottom of a greased pan, then scoop the batter on top of the crumbs and smooth out.

Bake in a 350 oven for 50 - 60 minutes until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

 Let the cake cool and invert, garnish with powdered sugar.  The crumbs bake into the crust to provide a thicker crust on what becomes the top.  The butter flavoring is definitely required for this cake, to give it that extra buttery taste to an already rich cake.

Just gonna give the recipe for one this time, gotta keep somethings a secret.

Deep Butter Cake 

Yield: 8 to 9 servings

For crumb mixture:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring (see note)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For batter:

11/3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring

13/4 cups cake flour

Powdered sugar, for garnish

1. Prepare the crumb mixture. In a small mixer bowl, beat together 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter until fluffy. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring and all-purpose flour; beat at low speed just until crumbly. Cover and refrigerate.

2. Prepare the batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch-square baking pan.

3. Combine 1 1/3 cups sugar, 1 cup butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixer bowl; beat on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs; beat on high speed 2 to 3 minutes or until light.

4. Combine milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring. Alternately add cake flour and milk mixture to batter, starting and ending with flour. Beat on low speed, scraping sides of bowl, until well mixed.

5. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly in prepared pan. Spread batter over crumb mixture. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until top is deep golden brown and cake tests done in the center with a wooden pick. Cool 5 minutes.

6. Place a flat plate or cake board on top of the pan. Hold the pan and plate together securely; turn over. Carefully remove the pan. (The crumb side is now the top of the cake.) Dust with powdered sugar.