Butterscotch Gooey Butter Cake

All St. Louis natives have a favorite version of gooey butter cake. We wanted to re-create the style that resembled old-fashioned coffee cake, with a rich yeast dough and custardy topping—the combination of tender yeast cake and silky custard literally melt in your mouth. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• Taking inspiration from rich yeasted doughs like brioche and Danish, we doubled the amount of eggs.
• Using milk in the dough instead of water gave the cake even more substance, while doubling the sugar lent more than the obvious sweetness—it helped tenderize the cake.
• To get the right velvety, custard-like consistency for the topping, we beat in some cream cheese with the butter and sugar. Butterscotch pudding mix also adds flavor and produces a creamy, gooey-yet-sliceable texture.