I Cheated

Ever since watching one of those episodes with that Guy Fieri dude (or however you spell it) I have been determined to both make an authentic Philly Gooey Butter Cake as well as try one. I don't live in Philly, so I have convinced myself I will not taste an authentic one until next summer when we make a stop in Philly. As far as making one goes, I have weeded out all of the "cheater recipes" that use a cake mix and found one that seems authentic, at least to me based off of what I saw on the show. I know it at least has to have yeast in it.

Anyway, last night I discovered that Hulu has added the food network. I promptly watched anything and everything that sounded good to me. Also, for the first time I watched Paula Deen in action. What an interesting woman she is. The particular clip I watched was for Gooey Butter Cake, but the cheater way. Glenn was bugging me to make him something sweet, but we didn't have much in the house that would be quick for me to put together. It was 8:00pm. I asked him if he wanted the Gooey Butter Cake and he agreed. Well, I didn't have yellow cake mix so I used Devil's Food Cake mix instead. (I keep one of those in reserve at all times in case I get a craving for a certain, amazing cake.)

I cheated. So shoot me. I made the cake, which was super easy. It was boring though, mostly because I do like somewhat of a challenge. At least cleanup was easy. Here is the recipe as presented by Paula Deen. She encourages creativity in the way of adding random stuff to the filling, and in that particular clip she added a small can of pumpkin puree. Yum.

Gooey Butter Cake

Crust
1 box (18 1/4 oz.) cake mix (any flavor works)
1 stick (8 T) butter, melted
1 egg

Filling
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 stick (8 T) butter, melted
1 box (16 oz.) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 pan. To make the crust, combine the cake mix, butter, and egg in a medium bowl and mix with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Press mixture into the greased pan and set aside. For the filling, first beat the cream cheese (you can use the same bowl) until it is smooth. Add the eggs, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mix with electric mixer until very smooth. Pour filling over the crust. Tap the pan on the counter a couple times to get out any bubbles. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes. It will still be a little jiggly when it is done. Do not overbake or your crust will dry out. Wait about 20 minutes before cutting and serving.