Cooking Lesson #456: St. Louis Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake

…from the California Kitchen

How you doin’? St. Louis is Missouri's second-largest city and is known for its beer, baseball and The Blues hockey team, the Arch, the Mississippi River, the zoo and Ooey-Gooey Butter Cakes all in the center of the country. I’ve only been there a few times on client business and I’m sure there is much more than that—butter cake should be enough. If anyone can help me out, let me know what I’m missing.
 
I’ve been told that in St. Louis Ooey-Gooey Butter Cakes are more than just a favorite dessert but an essential part of growing up. At first glance it’s just another slice of yellow cake. However, one taste will tell you it is really special—sweet, sticky with contrasting textures: a dense, cookie-like crust, and a sweet, gooey filling reminiscent of a vanilla custard. Nothing too complicated… just flour, sugar, butter, eggs and corn syrup, yet it’s immediately satisfying and luxurious to eat. It’s chewy, rich and creamy… almost like a vanilla pudding that’s been nestled into a blondie.
 
You can find commercially made Ooey-Gooey Butter Cakes in most St. Louis grocery stores, bakeries, and restaurants, but homemade is so much better. Where did Ooey-Gooey Butter Cakes originally come from? Judy Evans, former Food Editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, says that the origins of the cake are shrouded in myth. Like so many great things it may have been the result of a happy accident. Maybe a baker was making a butter cake and messed up the proportions and voilà!... the ooey gooey butter cake was born. Another story is that this cake just started showing up in the early 1940s.
 
Prep time: 20 minutes
Proof time: 2 hours
Bake time: 25-30 minutes
Cool time: 20 minutes
Yield:  16 servings
 
Ingredients 
For the cake
1/4 cup whole milk
1 package active dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons additional soft unsalted butter for prepping the pans
 
For the filling
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1-1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 cup cake flour
 
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting the cake
 
Directions
To make the cake

1. Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 1 minute, or in the microwave on low power for about 45 seconds; heat until the milk is 100° F. Do not overheat or the yeast will be killed.
2. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir to dissolve; set aside.
3. Place the butter, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Add the flour alternately with the yeast and milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. When all the flour has been added, blend on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic; about 5 minutes.
6. Lightly rub butter into the bottom of two 8-inch square pans.
7. Divide the dough in half and press one half into the bottom of each pan.
8. Cover each pan loosely with plastic wrap, and place in a warm place to rise until nearly doubled, about 2 hours.
9. When the dough has nearly finished rising, make the filling.

To make the filling

1. Place the butter, sugar, salt and corn syrup in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes.
2. Scrape down the bowl and add the vanilla and 1 egg. Beat on medium speed until combined, then add the second egg.
3. Add the milk and half the flour, beating until combined. Add the rest of the flour and beat until smooth: set aside.
4. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° F.
5. Pour the filling over the rising dough, dividing it evenly between the 2 pans, and spread it to the edges. Place the pans in the oven.
6. Bake the cakes until the tops are golden brown; 25 to 30 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven, and let the cakes cool for 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, slice, and serve warm.

ChefSecret:  Cake flour is a low protein flour that’s milled into a fine consistency. It contains about 7-9% protein, while all-purpose flour, a harder flour, has anywhere between 10-12% protein. What does this mean for baking? The protein content is directly related to gluten formation. Cake flour’s lower protein means less gluten is formed as you mix the batter together. Less gluten formation means a softer, fluffier texture.
Don’t have any handy?  You can make your own cake flour.

• Measure 1 cup all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons.
• Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to the flour. Cornstarch contains less gluten than flour, so it’s a wonderful tenderizing ingredient to help make cake flour.
• Sift the flour mixture into a mixing bowl once. Then run it through the sifter one more time. Sifting not only mixes the two ingredients together appropriately, but it also aerates the mixture so the consistency is similar to real cake flour.
• Sometimes sifting can produce more volume since it’s adding air.

Quip of the Day: “My friend hurt his foot walking around a St. Louis landmark...
it was the Arch.”
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