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Gooey Butter Cake, known in the South as chess squares, is the buttery, ooey gooey bar with a soft cake mix crust and a melt in your mouth cream cheese topping that bakes into a crinkly, sugar dusted dream. I first made these for a church potluck and came home with an empty pan and five recipe requests, and Maddie still asks for them by name. If you love an easy from scratch tasting treat, you will also want our strawberry earthquake cake.
With one box of cake mix and a handful of pantry staples, these gooey butter cake bars come together in minutes and bake up rich, sweet, and totally irresistible.
Gooey Butter Cake Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 45 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 55 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 20 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 273kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Buttery, sweet, and gooey (soft cake base with creamy topping)
- ✋ Difficulty: Very easy, on par with our strawberry earthquake cake
Quick Answer
Mix a box of yellow cake mix with melted butter and one egg to make a soft crust, then press it into a 9 by 13 pan. Beat cream cheese with two more eggs and a pound of powdered sugar until smooth, pour it over the crust, and bake at 300 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes until the top is crinkly and the edges are lightly golden. Cool completely, cut into squares, and dust with powdered sugar. These gooey butter cake bars, also called chess squares, are pure buttery, gooey heaven.
Jump to:
- Gooey Butter Cake Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Gooey Butter Cake
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Gooey Butter Cake FAQs
- Other Recommended Easy Dessert Recipes
- Easy Gooey Butter Cake Bars (Chess Squares)
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cake mix makes it foolproof. Starting with a box of yellow cake mix means the buttery crust comes together perfectly every time with no measuring.
- Cream cheese keeps it gooey. The cream cheese and powdered sugar topping bakes into that signature soft, gooey center that gives gooey butter cake its name.
- Low heat protects the texture. Baking at a gentle 300 degrees keeps the top soft and gooey instead of drying it out or browning too fast.
- A pound of powdered sugar is the magic. It sounds like a lot, but it is what creates the sweet, melt in your mouth topping that sets just enough to slice.
- Parchment makes clean squares. Lining the pan lets you lift the whole slab out and cut neat chess squares with no sticking.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It starts with a cake mix, so it is fast, foolproof, and budget friendly.
- It has that irresistible gooey, buttery, melt in your mouth texture everyone loves.
- It feeds a crowd from one 9 by 13 pan, making it perfect for potlucks and bake sales like our red velvet brownies.
Key Ingredients
Just five simple ingredients make this gooey classic. Here is what each one does.
- Yellow cake mix: The shortcut base that becomes the soft, buttery crust. No need to add the ingredients on the box, just butter and an egg.
- Cream cheese: The heart of the gooey topping. Softened and beaten smooth, it gives the cake its rich, creamy layer.
- Powdered sugar: A full pound sweetens the topping and creates that signature gooey, melt in your mouth texture.
- Butter: Melted butter binds the cake mix crust and adds rich flavor.
- Eggs: One egg holds the crust together while two more set the gooey cream cheese topping just enough to slice.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
This gooey butter cake is a blank canvas, so make it your own.
- Change the cake mix: Try chocolate, lemon, spice, or strawberry cake mix for a different flavor.
- Add citrus: Beat a little lemon zest into the topping for a bright, tangy gooey butter cake.
- Stir in extras: Fold chocolate chips, toffee bits, or chopped nuts into the topping.
- Add pumpkin: Beat a few tablespoons of pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice into the topping for a fall version.
- Top it off: Serve with fresh berries, a drizzle of caramel, or a scoop of ice cream.
How to Make Gooey Butter Cake
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a 9 by 13 baking dish with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix the yellow cake mix, melted butter, and 1 egg with an electric hand mixer until combined into a soft dough.
- Press the cake mix dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- In another large bowl, add the remaining 2 eggs, softened cream cheese, and powdered sugar.
- Beat the topping with an electric hand mixer until completely smooth and creamy.
- Pour the cream cheese topping evenly over the cake mix crust.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the top appears dry and crinkly and the edges are lightly golden. Cool completely, then lift out with the parchment, cut into squares, and dust with powdered sugar.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Soften the cream cheese. Room temperature cream cheese beats smooth, while cold cream cheese leaves lumps in the gooey topping.
- Do not overbake. The center should still look slightly gooey when you pull it. It firms up as it cools.
- Bake low and slow. The 300 degree oven is key to keeping the top soft and gooey instead of dry.
- Line the pan. Parchment paper lets you lift the whole cake out for clean, easy squares.
- Cool completely before cutting. Warm gooey butter cake falls apart, so let it set fully for neat slices.
- Dust just before serving. Add the powdered sugar right before serving so it stays pretty and does not soak in.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These Gooey Butter Cake bars are a potluck and bake sale legend. Cut them into small squares, dust generously with powdered sugar, and pile them on a platter. They are rich, so a little goes a long way, which makes one pan stretch across a big crowd next to our red velvet brownies.
Serve them at room temperature with coffee, or warm a square for a few seconds and top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for an easy dessert. Fresh berries on the side cut the sweetness beautifully.
They are a holiday favorite and travel well, so they are perfect for cookie trays, church gatherings, and gifting. Set them out with a batch of brookies for a dessert table everyone will remember.
Gooey Butter Cake FAQs
Gooey Butter Cake is a rich dessert with a soft, buttery cake base and a sweet, gooey cream cheese topping. It started in St. Louis and is known in the South as chess squares or chess bars.
Gooey Butter Cake gets its name from its signature texture. The cream cheese and powdered sugar topping bakes into a soft, gooey, buttery layer that never fully sets, so every bite melts in your mouth.
Store Gooey Butter Cake covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days. Many people love it chilled straight from the fridge.
Yes. Freeze cut Gooey Butter Cake squares in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature and dust with fresh powdered sugar before serving.
If your Gooey Butter Cake is too runny, it likely needs a few more minutes in the oven or more cooling time. Bake until the top is crinkly and the edges are golden, then cool completely before cutting.
Yellow cake mix is the classic choice for Gooey Butter Cake, but you can use chocolate, lemon, or spice cake mix to change the flavor. Any standard boxed mix works.
Love an easy crowd pleasing dessert? Make our strawberry earthquake cake next.
Easy Gooey Butter Cake Bars (Chess Squares)
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 3 large eggs divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 pound powdered sugar plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer mix together the yellow cake mix, melted butter, and 1 egg until combined.
- Press into the bottom of the baking dish, set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer add the remaining 2 eggs, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.
- Mix until smooth.
- Pour over the crust.
- Bake until the top appears dry and it is crinkly. The crust along the edges will be lightly golden brown, 40-45 minutes.
- Let the bars cool in the pan completely. Use the parchment paper to help you lift it out and cut it into bars. Add a dusting of powdered sugar if desired.
Notes
- You can use any cake flavor that you’d like.
- Extracts can be used in the cream cheese mixture to change up the flavor, see some suggestions above.
- Other toppings can be used, see above for ideas.
- This makes a large batch, but can be doubled.
- These can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- Top with a variety of toppings, see some of my ideas above.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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These look wonderful!!!
Thank you for sharing it at our linky party, and look forward to seeing you again tomorrow, (Wednesdays), at our new party http://www.FineCraftGuild.com
Thanks Winnie!
Wonderful and delicious looking cake!
OOhh, the lemon sounds great!! Make that post so I can try ’em, lol!
I’ll be there, would love to follow!
Yum!! Would love it if you linked up on my blog hop http://www.w-t-fab.com/search/label/bloghop. Also let me know if you’d like to follow each other!
I did a similar recipe for Thankgiving but with a pumpkin pie top. It was so delicious and make me realize that I just don’t like crust. Some pies I will eat the crust, but for the most part I pull off the top of the crust. This recipe is a good alternative to crust! I have pinned it to my desserts board. Thanks for linking up to my Pin Me Party!
LOL, I know! But man are they good!
I think I gained a pound just reading this! Lol!
Thank you for partying with the Wildly Original Crowd.
<3 Christina at I Gotta Create!