[1] Gooey Butter Cake (photos #1, #6, and #8 © Park Avenue Coffee | St. Louis).

[2] Ready to serve (photos #2 and #7 © Mark Derse | Taste Of Home).

[3] Cream cheese gives the cake its “gooey” top (photo © Organic Valley).

[4] Confectioners’ sugar is sprinkled on top,but we’ve never liked the mess it creates. See tips below“>below (photo © Donut Equipment).

[5] If you like to use premium ingredients, treat yourself to vanilla extract from Nielsen-Massey (photo © Nielsen-Massey).

[6] If you don’t want to bake, order Gooey Butter Cake from the source in St. Louis.

We had never heard of Gooey Butter Cake until we came across its holiday, August 12th, National Gooey Butter Cake Day!

It turns out that it’s a signature dish of St. Louis, Missouri, a local go-to treat.

But wherever you call home, this rich, delicious, and super-easy dessert hits the spot. The bottom layer of yellow cake of topped with a gooey top layer made from butter, cream cheese, eggs, and vanilla, garnished with confectioners’ sugar.

Gooey Butter “Cake” isn’t actually a cake. It’s a bar cookie, like lemon bars. Bars are one of the 10 different types of cookies.

The recipe follows, courtesy of Taste Of Home.

But if you don’t want to bake, you can order some directly from St. Louis (see below).

> The history of Gooey Butter Cake is below.

> Buy Gooey Butter Cake online, below.

> The history of confectioners’ sugar is below.

> Why is confectioners’ sugar used as a [messy] garnish?

> The history of cake.

> The history of cookies.

> The different types of cake: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 55 cake holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Prep time is 20 minutes and bake time is 40 minutes, plus 1 hour cool time.

Here’s a step-by-step video.

This cake is particularly sweet, in keeping with many American palates. We cut the sugar by 1/3 in both the cake and the topping.

The recipe was provided by Cheri Foster of Vail, Arizona and tested by Lisa A. Kaminski and Val Goodrich of the Taste Of Home Test Kitchen.
 
Ingredients For 16 Servings

 
For The Topping

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl…

2. WHISK together the melted butter, egg, and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Press onto bottom of a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

3. MAKE the topping. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and stir to combine. Pour over the crust.

4. BAKE until the center is almost set and edges start to brown, 40-45 minutes. Cool for 1 hour on a wire rack. Sprinkle with additional confectioners’ sugar if desired.
 
 

[7] Waiting for a cup of tea or coffee.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Gooey butter cake was invented by accident in the 1930s by a German-American baker in St. Louis, Missouri.

There are different origin stories, but the most common told story attributes it to a baker at Park Avenue Coffee Shop who mistakenly reversed the proportions of butter and flour while making regular cake batter.

Instead of throwing out the mistake, he baked it anyway and discovered the deliciously rich, gooey texture

What is known for sure is that gooey butter cake emerged from the German-American baking community in St. Louis during the Great Depression.

It has remained a beloved local and regional dessert ever since. In fact, it’s considered the signature dessert of St. Louis.
 
 
BUY GOOEY BUTTER CAKE ONLINE

The original Park Avenue Coffee Shop in St. Louis that opened in the 1930s is no longer in operation.

However, there is a locally owned St. Louis business called Park Avenue Coffee that opened in Historical Lafayette Square in 2006, and now has several locations.

It not only makes the original Gooey Butter Cake; it makes a number of different flavors that you can buy online.

 
 

[8] Gooey Butter Cake in Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Red Velvet.
 
 
WHY GARNISH DESSERTS WITH CONFECTIONERS’ SUGAR?

Gooey Butter Cake is one of many baked dessert and sweet bread recipes that has confectioners’ sugar sprinkled on top. It may look elegant at first, but it always makes a mess, flaking off on one’s clothing and adhering to fingers and everything else it touches.

It just doesn’t adhere well to most baked goods.

So why is it used as a garnish?

 
Hack: Some bakers solve the powdered sugar problem by mixing it with a tiny amount of cornstarch, which helps it stick better.
 
 
The History Of Confectioners’ Sugar

Confectioners’ sugar (also called powdered sugar and 10x sugar, because it is milled/sifted 10 times) has a long tradition in European baking. In addition to visual appeal as a garnish—a 19th-century discovery—confectioners’ sugar evolved from practical baking needs.

Starting with granulated sugar for a moment:

Sugarcane originated in Southeast Asia and India, with India discovering how to refining the cane juice into crystalline form by 4th–5th centuries C.E. The technique moved westward to the Middle East, but did not reach Europe until the 13th century.

The form of granulated sugar sold in Europe from the late Middle Ages through the 19th century were molded at the refinery into a cone shape called a sugar loaf. It was easy to chip off pieces with a sugar nipper.

 
Confectioners’ sugar developed gradually over several centuries (the 17th through 19th)as bakers found they needed finer sugar for icings, frostings, and delicate confections, where the grittiness of regular sugar crystals was undesirable.

Plus, a finer texture allowed for smoother mixing and better incorporation into batters and creams. (Remember: These were the days of hand-mixing, long before the first electric mixer appeared in 1885, a pricey appliance for commercial use*.)

Powdered sugar was often sold in compressed tablets or disks which were grated.

The commercial production of confectioners’ sugar became more standardized in the 19th century, when factory-made powdered sugar became available. This marked the transition from home sifting to commercial production.

Modern confectioners’ sugar includes small amounts of anti-caking agents—typically cornstarch or calcium phosphate—to prevent clumping.

> The history of sugar.

> The different types of sugar: a photo glossary.
 
 
________________
 
*The first electric mixer available was invented by Rufus Eastman in 1885. It was initially marketed for commercial use, specifically for whipping cream, eggs, and liquor. The first electric stand mixer, designed for home use, was the KitchenAid Food Preparer, introduced by Hobart Manufacturing Company in 1919. Traveling backward, hand-cranked egg beaters appeared in the 1850s. Simple wire whisks existed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Large forks were used as cooking utensils in ancient Egypt. From the earliest times, twig whisks were used to mix and stir.

 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] One of our favorite whole-grain breakfasts (photos #1, #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7 © Post Consumer Brands).(photo © Post Consumer Brands).

[2] For years, Shredded Wheat was produced by Nabisco (photo © Nabisco).

[3] The Original Shredded Wheat brand is now owned by Post

[4] Use Shredded Wheat in recipes; here it coats baked chicken with a sour cream sauce. The recipe.

[5] You can add Shredded Wheat to cookies, muffins, and cereal bars. Here’s the recipe for the bars.

[6] Crumble shredded wheat as a dessert garnish. Here, a Key lime parfait with a crunchy garnish shredded wheat. The recipe.

[7] How about Parmesan chicken with Shredded Wheat? Here’s the recipe.

[8] A 1931 as for Shredded Wheat. Note the original packaging (ad available from Period Paper).

We are big fans of shredded wheat, which has its own national holiday: July 31st. To celebrate National Shredded Wheat Day, we offer you a history of the unique-looking breakfast cereal, plus ways to enjoy it it beyond the breakfast table.

Shredded Wheat cereal is a ready-to-eat breakfast cereal made from 100% whole wheat, formed into distinctive woven wheat biscuits.

It is one of the oldest cold cereals still sold today and a classic example of the early health-food cereal movement.

Original Shredded Wheat biscuits had no sugar, no salt, and no additives, and high fiber—just steamed and baked whole wheat.

Below:

> The history of cold breakfast cereal.

> The Shredded Wheat.

> More ways to use shredded wheat.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The year’s 15 cereal holidays.

> The year’s 116 breakfast holidays.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF COLD BREAKFAST CEREAL

In the late 1800s, American diets were heavy in meat, fried foods, pastries, and alcohol, and short on vegetables and other fiber. This led to widespread constipation, indigestion, and dyspepsia (discomfort or pain in the upper abdomen, a common complaint of the time).

Health reformers, especially in Battle Creek, Michigan*, promoted whole grains and high-fiber foods to aid digestion.

Cold cereals like Shredded Wheat, Grape-Nuts, and Corn Flakes were created as “scientific” alternatives to greasy breakfasts.

The philosophy was that bland, whole-grain foods could “cleanse” the body and mind and promote longevity.

Plus, cold cereal fit into the vegetarian, temperance-oriented lifestyle promoted at sanitariums.
 
 
THE PIONEERS OF COLD CEREAL

 
 
THE HISTORY OF SHREDDED WHEAT

Henry Drushel Perky (1843-1906) was a lawyer, businessman, promoter and inventor. A devout vegetarian, he was an advocate of whole wheat and a pioneer in health food, invented Shredded Wheat in 1890.

In the early 1890s, at a Nebraska hotel, Perky, suffering from diarrhea, encountered a man similarly afflicted. The man was eating boiled wheat with cream to mitigate the problem.

Intrigued, in 1892, Perky took the idea of a commercial product made from boiled wheat to a machinist friend, William H. Ford. The two developed a machine that shredded wheat flakes and flattened the cooked whole wheat between steel rollers.

Voilà: the uniquely shaped and turned it into the pillow-like biscuits. (At first, Perky called them “little whole wheat mattresses.”)

They patented the machine in 1893 and presented the machine at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, marketed as a modern health food. It attracted attention for its health benefits and novel form.

In 1895, Perky launched the Cereal Machine Company in Denver, selling both the cereal and the machine to bakeries. Later that year, he opened the Natural Food Company, a factory in Boston, to mass-producing the cereal for consumers.

The company moved to Niagara Falls, New York, for the cheap hydroelectric power and proximity to wheat farms, and eventually became the Shredded Wheat Company.

His initial intention was to sell the machine. Instead, he ended up selling shredded wheat on the street from horse-drawn wagons, meeting consumer demand for a healthy breakfast, meant to be eaten with hot or cold milk (source).
 
 
The Patent Expires

The original patent for Shredded Wheat was issued in 1895. At that time, utility patents lasted for 17 years from the date of issue and thus expired in 1912. (Today it’s 20 years from date of issue, and 15 years for design patents. The name Shredded Wheat is also now generic.)

Nabisco introduced bite-sized Mini-Shredded Wheat in 1930 (decades before Frosted Mini-Wheats).

The cereal was popular enough that the Kellogg Company decided to introduce a similar shredded wheat product. This led to a landmark Supreme Court case: Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co. (1938).

The court ruled that Shredded Wheat was generic after the patent expired, allowing competitors to make similar cereals. 

Nabisco acquired the company in 1928. Nabisco later merged with Kraft and then sold off its cereals. Post Foods (now Post Consumer Brands) currently produces Shredded Wheat in the U.S. In Canada and the U.K., the brand is owned by Nestlé, under license from Post.
 
 
Today’s Varieties

Post, which purchased Original Shredded Wheat from Nabisco, makes Original Big Biscuit, Original Spoon Size, and Spoon Size Wheat ’n Bran.

Most of the sweetened Nabisco/Post flavors have been discontinued, such as Post Honey Nut, Vanilla Almond, Mixed Berry, and the Frosted line (Cinnamon Roll, Mixed Berry, S’mores, etc.).

Kellogg’s has expanded beyond unfrosted Mini-Wheats into Blueberry, Maple Brown Sugar, Pummpkin Spice, Strawberry, Touch Of Fruits, and Little Bites variants including Chocolate.
 
 
OTHER WAYS TO USE SHREDDED WHEAT

Early cookbooks suggested using Shredded Wheat as pie crust, casserole topping, and even mock meatloaf filler.

Later, it became used often in desserts, from garnishes (photo #6) and toppings for crumbles and crisps to chocolate nests for Easter, as well as incorporated into:

 
An easy savory garnish: Mix crushed Shredded Wheat with seeds, olive oil, and herbs to sprinkle over dips, grains, roasted vegetables, salads, soups.

> Check out all these Shredded Wheat recipes from Post Consumer Brands.
 
 
________________
 
*Battle Creek, Michigan was home to Seventh-day Adventist headquarters, a group that promoting vegetarianism and health reform. John Harvey Kellogg’s success attracted imitators and created a cluster of sanitariums and health businesses, including early cereal companies. In fact, Battle Creek earned the nickname “The Cereal Capital of the World” because Post and Kellogg both grew out of the sanitarium culture.

†C.W. Post was a great marketer, and wanted a healthy, natural=sounding name, which appealed to the late 19th-century health food movement. It was promoted as nutritious, easily digestible, and energizing. The “Grape” came from grape sugar (glucose), which was believed to form during the cereal’s baking process; and “Nuts” referred to the hard, crunchy nuggets that resembled small nuts and had a toasty, nut-like flavor.

‡Force wheat flakes were introduced in 1901–1902, created by C.E. Barter and commercially developed with W.K. Kellogg’s help. It was one of the first ready-to-eat toasted wheat flake cereals. By 1903, Force was a national sensation in the U.S. and the U.K.

It was among the first cereals to rely heavily on mass advertising rather than just health claims. But it was a victim of changing tastes and management. As Americans wanted sweet cereals, Kellogg’s, Post, and Quaker Oats dominated shelves with their sugary brands. Plus, Force changed hands multiple times, diluting its marketing consistency. Force vanished from the U.S. by the mid-20th century, unable to compete with sugary cereals.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

We are a devotee of cheesecake, and haven’t yet found a good Basque cheesecake in our home town. Even the slice we had at the gourmet Spanish market owned by a prominent chef we admire was bland.

July 30th is National (and International) Cheesecake Day. No time like the present to create this drool-worthy dessert.

Basque cheesecake it isn’t [yet] a style familiar to many Americans. The top should be cracked, sunken and burnt, and the technique used makes the top taste caramelized.

Originating at a restaurant in San Sebastián, a resort town on the Bay of Biscay in Spain’s Basque Country, the creamy cheesecake is also known as Burnt Basque Cheesecake, Burnt Cheesecake, San Sebastian Cheesecake.

You can serve it with coffee or tea, but consider what the local Vascos* serve: brandy, sherry, sweet Riesling, ice wine, or other dessert wines.

The recipe follows, but first:

> The year’s 16 cheesecake holidays.

> See the year’s 11 Spanish food holidays below.

> The history of cheesecake.

> The history of Basque cheesecake is below.

> 80 more cheesecake recipes, including sweet, savory, and more (cheesecake ice cream, floats, pops, waffles, etc.).
 
 
BASQUE CHEESECAKE VS. NEW YORK CHEESECAKE

What makes Basque cheesecake unique is its rustic appearance and intense flavor. It’s baked at a higher temperature, 400°F (200°C), which creates its signature blackened top. New York Cheesecake is typically baked at between 300°F and 350°F (150°C and 175°C).

A few more differences:

 
 
RECIPE: BASQUE CHEESECAKE

You can make Basque cheesecake the day before serving and refrigerate it until an hour before serving. It tastes best at room temperature.

Prep time is 20 minutes and bake time is 45 minutes, plus cooling.

This version of the recipe was developed by Lauren Habermehl of Pewaukee, Wisconsin and tested by By Lauren Habermehl and Val Goodrich of the Taste of Home Test Kitchen. We also provide the original La Viña recipe, which differs slightly.

> Here’s a video of the preparation.
 
Ingredients

 
The Original Recipe Ingredients

For comparison, here are the ingredients from the original La Viña recipe (photo #4). Most significantly, the Taste Of Home version above uses an extra egg yolk, less heavy cream, more salt, plus vanilla extract. The extra egg yolk and less cream in the Taste Of Home version results in a denser texture due to the increased fat content. We liked the softer center better—it’s different—but both were equally delicious. Here’s the full La Viña recipe.

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Line a 9-inch springform pan with two overlapping pieces of parchment paper. Set aside.

2. BEAT the cream cheese and 1-1/2 cups sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is smooth.

3. ADD the whole eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time, until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low; beat in the heavy cream, flour, vanilla extract and salt until smooth.

4. TRANSFER the filling to the springform pan, spreading it into an even layer. Dust the top of the cheesecake with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

5. BAKE for 25-30 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 450°; bake an additional 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool completely on wire rack. Remove sides of springform pan and peel back layers of parchment paper. Use a sharp knife to cut into slices.

6. TO STORE: You can store Basque cheesecake in the fridge for up to five days. You can freeze it whole or in individual slices for up to three months, tightly wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil. Defrost it overnight in the fridge and let warm on the counter for an hour before serving.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BASQUE CHEESECAKE

Basque cheesecake, known as tarta de queso in Spanish, is a relatively new addition to the pantheon of cheesecake recipes.

Note that tarta de queso simply means cheesecake in Spanish, and other styles of cheesecake have long existed before what we call Basque cheesecake. They were (and are) typically lighter, often had crusts, and were baked at lower temperatures (i.e., not “burnt”).

Basque cheesecake was created in 1990 in San Sebastián, Spain—the eponymous Basque region of northern Spain—by Santiago Rivera at his restaurant La Viña.

At the end of many hours of experimentation on taking traditional cheesecake to the next level, he baked it at a much higher temperature, for a longer time than usual, and without a crust.

The result was a dessert with a deeply caramelized, almost burnt exterior and an very creamy, custard-like interior—an innovation.
 
 
The Path To Global Fame

[1] The mouthwatering Basque cheesecake (photos #1, #2, and #3 © Melissa Franco | Taste Of Home).

[2] Basque cheesecake tastes best at room temperature.

[3] You can freeze the cake whole or in slices.

[4] Here’s the recipe from La Viña that was printed in the cookbook, Basque Country, and baked by Luxeat (photo © Luxeat).

[5] There should be a soft custard texture in the center of the cheesecake, but if yours doesn’t have it, it will be just as delicious. Here’s the recipe for this version (photo © Cook Republic).

[6] New York-style cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. Here’s the recipe (photo © Wilton).

[7] Basque cheesecake gelato: Have your cake and your ice cream, too. Here’s the recipe (photo © Cook Republic).

For decades, Basque cheesecake remained largely regional, popular in the Basque country and parts of Spain. However, it began to gain international attention in the 2010s when food bloggers and chefs began discovering and sharing the recipe online.

Its Instagrammability helped fuel its global popularity.

The cheesecake truly exploded worldwide around 2018-2019, becoming a trendy dessert in restaurants from Tokyo to New York.

In 2021, the New York Times called it the “Flavor of the Year,” and it more mainstream food culture.

It has inspired countless variations and interpretations. It was reported by the Times that a Basque cheesecake soft-serve flavor appeared in Singapore!

Here’s a recipe for Basque cheesecake gelato (photo #7), which incorporates large pieces of the cheesecake into vanilla gelato.
 
 
Basque Cheesecake’s Different Names

In the U.S. we call it Basque cheesecake, Basque burnt cheesecake, or burnt cheesecake. Elsewhere, the name varies quite a bit. (Note that vasca/vasco refers to the Basque people.)

The “burnt” descriptor is also commonly added in many languages to emphasize the distinctive caramelized top that sets it apart from other cheesecake styles.

In Spanish-speaking countries, it’s often called:

 
In English-Speaking Countries

 
In France

 
In Other European Countries

 
In Japan

 
However, the term is becoming internationally standardized: Many restaurants and bakeries around the world simply use the term Basque cheesecake, even when writing in their local language.
 
 
11 SPANISH FOOD HOLIDAYS CELEBRATED IN THE U.S.

Note that these holidays originated in Spain, and do not include Tex-Mex foods. The one food we think of as Mexican or Tex-Mex that actually originated in Spain is the empanada†.

 
Food Fight!

Spain is also home to the world’s biggest food fight: La Tomatina. The festival takes place in Buñol, Spain (a municipality in the province of Valencia), where participants throw tomatoes at each other.

What began as a food fight between friends on the last Wednesday of August, 1945 now attracts participants from all over the world. The town of 9,000 residents has seen 40,000 to 50,000 people show up.

For safety reasons, attendance is now capped at 20,000, and the event always sells out. La Tomatina only uses tomatoes that are unfit for consumption and would usually be thrown away by vendors or farmers—150,000 kilos of tomatoes (about 330,000 pounds)!

For all this effort, the event lasts for just one hour! Check out these fun facts about the event.
 
 
________________
 
*Vasco is the Spanish name given to residents of Spain’s Basque region. In the Basque native language of Euskara, they call themselves Euskaldunaks, which means “speakers of Basque” in Euskara. In Spanish, they are also called Vascos. The term “Basque” itself is derived from the Spanish and French words for the Basques, which in turn come from the ancient Vascones, a tribe that inhabited the area.
 
†Unlike many Tex-Mex foods that originated in the American Southwest—burritos, chili, chimichangas, salsa, tacos, etc.—empanadas originated in Spain. The first published recipe is from 1520s, written in Catalan.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.