We’ll find out which bakery has the “original” Gooey Butter Cake in St Louis. It’s a hot topic in that city, so I made this Old St. Louis Bakery Style Recipe from Chris Leuther’s Collection to get started with my difficult research! Wait and see!
When we arrived at our St. Louis hotel, I told the concierge I was on a quest to find gooey butter cake and she suggested I walk just a few blocks to Park Avenue Coffee. Off I went, and found out the company roasted and served coffee and then decided to add a sweet treat by serving their mom’s “original” gooey butter cake recipe. The secret is cream cheese in the batter and the list of flavors has grown to over 70 flavors. The traditional, triple chocolate and turtle bars are favorites, so I tried the turtle flavor which was scrumptious. You can buy a box mix ready to make at home and they ship the freshly baked cakes worldwide.
My last stop for gooey butter cake was in the community of Florissant, an older established community just outside of downtown. Helfer’s Pastries and Deli is owned by Chris and Kathy Helfer who met while working in a bakery in the 1970’s and married. Its a family business with their four daughters also working in the bakery. The gooey cake is a staple item and they also have shortbread cookies and pecan rolls with the gooey filling. Their recipe had been passed down to Chris and he believes it’s the original recipe for this Midwestern cake!
My upcoming article about gooey butter cakes will tell more!
