Gooey Butter Cake - Availability

Availability

Many St. Louis area grocery stores sell fresh or boxed gooey butter cakes. Haas baking sells a widely distributed, square and packaged version in a box that depicts a colorful, if anachronistic scene of aviator Charles Lindbergh's plane the Spirit of St. Louis flying past downtown St. Louis, the Gateway Arch and the modern cityscape in clouds. Independent or family bakeries make gooey butter cakes, from a time when there were still many neighborhood corner German and Austrian American bakeries in St. Louis, in neighborhoods like Dutchtown, Bevo Mill, and the Tower Grove area, and others. There are now several businesses that specialize in different flavors of gooey butter cake and sell them in coffee shops, or to walk in customers, or by order or shipment.

Panera Bread Company (original name: St. Louis Bread Company) make Danish with a gooey butter filling. More recently, Walgreens sell wrapped, individual slices of a version of St. Louis gooey butter cake as a snack along side muffins, brownies, and cookies.

Gooey butter cake is now widely available outside of the St. Louis area, as Walmart has been marketing a version that it is calls Paula Deen Baked Goods Original Gooey Butter Cake. However, Walmart calls it "Paula's signature dessert" and makes no mention of its St. Louis origin.

Gooey butter cake as a dessert Modern versions of this confection, originally sold as a breakfast pastry or "coffee cake", have shown up on upscale restaurant menus across the Midwest and even the West coast. The first such interpretation is believed to have happened in 1991 at a small fine dining restaurant located in Springfield, Missouri, 3 hours Southwest of St. Louis. The restaurant, called Clary's after the surname of the two brothers who originally opened it, offered their customers a blueberry version of the gooey butter cake with vanilla bean ice cream and blueberry sauce. The dessert was originally called Gary's Favorite after Gary Tombridge, a friend of co-owner James Clary, served the chef a raspberry flavored gooey butter cake after dinner at Tombridge's home. The chef remarked what a wonderful pastry it was and wondered why no one had ever served it as a dessert. The dessert, along with Clary's signature souffles, became a staple at the eatery. Clary left the restaurant business in 2008 but says he still serves the gooey butter cake to friends and catering clients. The sweet dessert can now be found on many restaurant menus including the popular Kansas City chain Ya Ya's, Murray's in Columbia, Mo, and even as far as Seattle, where The Five Spot serves a pumpkin version of the classic pastry.