Lemon Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake

What if I told you there’s a cake that tastes like buttery baked cake AND cake batter at the same time?  These are dreams appropriately named Gooey Butter Cake.

I didn’t have nearly enough early exposure to the concept of a Gooey Butter Cake save for all the batches of blondie brownies I under-baked due to impatience.  We were a Texas Sheet Cake family (still are thank you) despite the fact that my grandfather came to California from St Louis – land of ooey gooey butter.  We rooted for the Cardinals in baseball butt kept out cake strictly southern.

Gooey Butter Cake has my favorite cake characteristics, namely – seemingly under-baked cake batter. Baked but under-baked cake batter takes on a butterscotch quality that is… well, it’s me licking the spatula and mixing bowl while the cake bakes in the oven.

For this springtime version gooey butter cake, I’m adding lemon zest, lemon juice and a quickie fresh blueberry sauce.  This is giving weekend blueberry muffin vibes so please get the coffee brewing like, now.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this Lemon Blueberry Gooey Butter Cake:

•  fresh blueberries and lemon juice and zest

•  granulated sugar

•  cornstarch

•  cream cheese at room temperature

•  powdered sugar – I use traditional grocery store powdered sugar for the filling and this fancy powdered sugar that does not dissolve for the topping.

•  large eggs

•  unsalted butter, melted

•  vanilla extract

•  all-purpose flour

•  baking powder

•  salt

We’ll start by making a quick fresh blueberry sauce. Simmer fresh berries in a small pan with a dash of water, a bit of sugar, and cornstarch to thicken.  Cook until most of the blueberries have softened and burst and the sauce is a deep purple and slightly thickened.  Cornstarch thickens at the boiling point so if your sauce is simmering you’ve done your job.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

I used fresh berries (snacking on the rest of the clamshell of berries as the cake baked), but you can use frozen berries if you thaw and drain them before simmering.

Let’s talk cake batter!  In a large bowl using an electric mixer (or stand mixer with a paddle attachment) beat together melted butter, granulated sugar, an egg, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients all at once and whip into a smooth, thick cake batter.

I like to think of this as an easy homemade version of yellow cake mix.  Now… if you were to use yellow or lemon cake mix for this recipe – double the blueberry sauce and double the cream cheese filling and either bake 2 9×9-inch cakes or 1 9×13-inch cake!

Set aside the cake batter because it’s time for the gooey portion of our cake walk.

This cream cheese mixture is the star of the show.  Softened cream cheese flavored with lemon blueberry.  The cream cheeses is lightly sweetened with confectioners’ sugar and thickened with an egg but doesn’t bake too firm atop the cake.  Soft, creamy, ooey gooey is what we’re going for!

I like to use a springform pan for this cake.  Dust off that springform pan – it’s not just for cheesecake.  The easy release sides make this pan perfect for this cake. No fighting to lift or invert the cake.

Prepare the baking pan by coating it with nonstick cooking spray or nonstick baking spray.

Pour layers into the prepared baking pan starting with the cake batter.  Use an offset spatula to spread into an even layer.  Pour the lemon cream cheese mixture over the cake batter.  Top with blueberry sauce and use a butterknife to swirl in six or so turns.

Place in the upper third of the oven to bake.

Bake until the cake layer is golden around the edges and cooked through.  A traditional toothpick doneness test won’t do here because we want the top cream cheese mixture to still be loose and gooey.  Part of baking is trust.  Trust that time and temperature will cook the cake layer through and know that a rest in the refrigerator will set the cake to perfection.

This cake comes out of the oven smelling BEYOND but here’s the catch – this cake needs to cool to room temperature and then rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours.  This rest period will set the gooey cream cheese just so.

Now, does the baker get the first slice? Is that something I heard somewhere?

The wonder of this cake is that it blurs the lines between cake and crust. Somehow to cake portion of this dessert feels like the crust and the cream cheese layer feels like an under-baked lemon blueberry muffin.  It’s a big spoon cake.  Don’t fuss with that dessert spoon.

Here’s your ooey gooey butter cake. Comment below with any questions or successes!

Other recipes that might suit you –

This lemon recipe is one of the most popular on the site: Almond Flour Lemon Raspberry Bars.

These blueberry recipe is a classic:  Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins

And in case you thought this was my first rodeo here’s a Cinnamon Sugar St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake recipe.

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