Lemon Gooey Butter Cake
This Lemon Gooey Butter Cake is a melt-in-your-mouth treat that’s ready in just about an hour and loaded with tender cake, a gooey cream cheese topping, and tons of bright, sweet lemon flavor.
Gooey butter cake is a moist, tender, creamy variation of pound cake that skyrocketed in popularity thanks to Paula Deen.
We took our copycat version of Paula Deen’s ooey gooey butter cake and gave it a citrus twist to create this lemony version that’s loaded with super moist, buttery cake, cream cheese topping, and big lemon flavor in every bite.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Limited Ingredients: This easy recipe only requires a handful of simple ingredients.
- So Easy: This is a semi-homemade recipe that only takes a few minutes of prep and about an hour from start to finish.
- Customizable: It’s so easy to change up this recipe to create all kinds of tasty cake variations.
- Great for Prep: You can freeze this cake for up to a month, so it’s easy to make extra for later.
Key Ingredients
We’ve made this list to help you save time on your next trip to the grocery store. You can find the full amounts needed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Lemon Cake Mix: A simple box of lemon cake mix gives you tons of flavor with almost zero effort.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese gives the topping its rich, creamy texture and tangy flavor.
- Powdered Sugar: A full 4 cups adds a ton of sweetness and a luxurious feel to the topping.
Variations
- Cake: Use any cake mix you like to create a wide variety of dessert flavors. They all work!
- Lemon Berry Cake: Mix your favorite fresh berries into the cream cheese topping for a lemon berry variation.
How to Make Lemon Gooey Butter Cake
This is a quick overview of the steps needed to make this recipe. You can find the full instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Combine the cake layer ingredients. Then, spread the mixture in the bottom of a prepared 9×13 baking dish.
- Mix the cream cheese layer ingredients, and pour the mixture over the cake batter.
- Bake at 350°F until the top is lightly golden.
- Cool and top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Mix the cake ingredients until just combined to ensure a soft, tender cake base.
- Fully soften your cream cheese for easy, complete mixing and the best texture.
- Sift your powdered sugar if it has any clumps for the best cream cheese texture.
- Your cake will be gooey when you remove it from the oven. It’s supposed to be. Don’t worry!
Lemon Gooey Butter Cake FAQs
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Lemon gooey butter cake combines the chewy cake base and gooey lemon top of classic gooey butter cake, infused with lemon flavor from lemon cake mix.
This cake is specifically made to be, well, ooey and gooey. As long as you followed the directions, your gooey cake is baked to perfection. Don’t worry!
This cake has a cream cheese top layer, so it can only be frozen for a month. Freezing it any longer than that results in a grainy texture.
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📖Recipe
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Lemon Gooey Butter Cake
Equipment
- 9×13 baking dish
- large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounces lemon cake mix
- ½ cup butter melted
- 4 eggs divided
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a mixing bowl combine the cake mix, melted butter and 2 eggs.
- Once the cake mix is combined spread it into the bottom of your baking dish.
- In another medium mixing bowl using an electric mixer combine the remaining 2 eggs, cream cheese and 4 cups of powdered sugar.
- Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake layer.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 40-50 minutes until the top is lightly golden. This cake will still be gooey!!
- Let cool and top with powdered sugar if desired.
- Cut into 9 or 12 pieces and serve!
Notes
- You can add fresh lemon juice to the cream mixture if you want even more lemony flavor.
- Store the leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- This is also great with a dollop of whipped cream
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
Gooey is the perfect name for this cake. I made it last night, and it was amazing. I can’t wait to make it again.
This is so delicious. It has such a classic flavor, and it was super easy to make!
Gooey cake is a huge favorite in our house, so I was eager to try this lemon version. It’s Ah-mazing!
This cake looks absolutely sunshine-bright and irresistible. I love how the lemon adds such a refreshing twist to a classic gooey butter cake.
I baked this yesterday and it came out perfectly soft in the center. The lemon flavor is bright but not too sharp, and that buttery top layer is amazing!
Oh these are so divine! If you love lemon you will absolutely loved this dessert. It adds a little bit of brightness to the winter days ahead.