Gooey Butter Cake is one of those inherently perfect foods. I mean, just consider the name. Gooey Butter Cake. No part of that is wrong. But how to make it even more right? Since many St. Louis-style Gooey Butter Cake (if you want more about the history of the cake, btw, click here) recipes call for cake mix anyway, I figured, why not add an ingredient that has "fun" in the mix: Funfetti Cake Mix! Everyone knows that Funfetti is more fun than regular old yellow cake mix. Why? Well, last time I checked, yellow cake mix didn't have rainbows hidden inside. You simply can't argue that logic.
So, I broke out the Funfetti and got to work, simply swapping it out for the called-for yellow cake mix in the recipe. I also garnished it with rainbow sprinkles, you know, for additional magic.
Gooey Butter Cake is already sort of an indulgent, guilty-pleasure food, and the Funfetti made it even more so. The little pockets of sugary rainbow bits in the cake don't take away any of the pleasure of this cake, and the sprinkles on top made it festive. While it wasn't a huge change from the original recipe, I truly believe it was a small swap that made it magical!
Here's the recipe; enjoy!
Funfetti Gooey Butter Cake Recipe (printable version here)
Ingredients:
- 1 box Funfetti Cake Mix
- 4 extra large eggs
- 1 stick melted butter
- Pure vanilla extract
- 1 8 oz. package cream cheese
- 1 box confectioners' sugar (3 1/2 cups)
- Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
- 9 X 13 Pan
- Stand Mixer
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your 9 x13 pan generously.
- Put the Funfetti mix in the bowl of your stand mixer. DO NOT FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE CAKE BOX. Add 2 of the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Mix together on low speed until combined. The batter will be moist and quite thick, so you should be able to transfer all of it quite easily to the pan. Spread evenly along the bottom of the pan, pressing the sides up about 1/2 inch for a little "ledge", like a shallow swimming pool that the gooey batter will be resting in.
- Clean off the mixers and bowl.
- Now, it's time to make the gooey mixture.
- Put the softened cream cheese and about 3/4 of the confectioners' sugar in your mixing bowl; set aside about 1/4 of the box for topping to sprinkle on after the cake is baked and cooled (you can also skip this and just add sprinkles). Mix together on low speed until smooth. Add the remaining eggs and mix until smooth and creamy in consistency. Pour this mixture on top of the crust and spread to make it even. If desired, add rainbow sprinkles.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top of the cake is browned. You want to make sure the gooey mixture on top of the cake is not too gooey otherwise it will be like a liquid. It is okay if the edges are brown and the top of the cake is lightly browned as well.
- Once cooked remove from oven and let cool about two hours before cutting (you could also put it in the fridge) and adding remaining powdered sugar before serving (if desired). Slice and serve. Keep leftovers refrigerated.
