Maggiano's Butter Cake

Home reconstruction

Gooey butter cake is two layers baked together: a cake base underneath, and a cream cheese and sugar layer on top that stays deliberately molten in the middle.

Every instinct from ordinary baking works against you here. The skewer test does not apply. The centre will wobble when you take it out and it is supposed to.

Bake it until the edges are set and puffed and the middle still moves when you shake the tin. That is the finished state, not an intermediate one.

Why the middle stays soft

The top layer is very high in sugar and fat and relatively low in egg and flour. Sugar in that quantity interferes with the egg proteins setting and holds onto water, so the mixture never firms up the way a custard or a sponge would.

Bake it long enough for the centre to set and the edges will be dry and the sugar will have started to crystallise round the rim.

The visual test

Two things to look for at 40 minutes:

The edges should be puffed, golden and pulling very slightly from the tin.

The middle, when you shake the tin gently, should move as one soft mass — like a set jelly, not like liquid sloshing.

If it sloshes, give it five more minutes. If it does not move at all, it is already overbaked.

It has to cool completely

Warm gooey butter cake is liquid in the middle and cannot be cut. As it cools the top layer thickens into the fudgy, dense texture that is the whole point.

At least two hours. Refrigerating it for an hour after that makes it much easier to cut cleanly, though it is better eaten at room temperature.

What you need

Base

• 175 g plain flour
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 115 g butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Top layer

• 450 g full-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 450 g icing sugar
• 115 g butter, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Oven to 165°C. Grease a 23 × 33 cm tin.
2. Base: mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the melted butter, egg and vanilla to a soft dough.
3. Press it into the base of the tin in an even layer.
4. Top: beat the cream cheese until completely smooth — **lumps at this stage never disappear.**
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
6. Add the icing sugar in three additions on a low speed, then the melted butter.
7. Pour over the base and level the top.
8. Bake 40–45 minutes. Edges set and golden, middle still wobbling.
9. Cool completely, at least 2 hours. Dust with icing sugar.

Beat the cream cheese alone first

Cold or lumpy cream cheese will not smooth out once sugar and egg are in — the sugar coats the lumps and they survive baking as pale grainy pockets.

Room temperature, beaten alone for a minute or two, before anything else joins it.

Icing sugar, not granulated

The top layer has no time and no water to dissolve granulated sugar, so it stays gritty. Icing sugar dissolves instantly.

It is also why the layer is so dense — icing sugar contains a little cornflour, which thickens.

Storing

Four days in the fridge, covered. It firms up considerably when cold, so take it out 30 minutes before serving.

Three months frozen, cut into portions and wrapped individually. Thaw in the fridge.