Pineapple Gooey Butter Cake

#2 in Adventures in using the Perfect Brownie Baking Pan

*From Paula Dean, via Foodnetwork.com (with a twist or two of my own)

For “Crust”
1 Box Pineapple cake mix
1 stick of butter (melted)
1 egg

For “Filling”
1 8-oz bar of Cream Cheese
1 stick of butter (melted)
3 eggs
1 Box Confectioner’s sugar
1 20-oz can of crushed pineapple
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, combine ingredients for “crust”. I used my hand mixer for this.
Then press this mixture into your pan. I used my 2 Perfect Brownie Baking Pans.

Then combine ingredients for filling. I used the same mixing bowl, Paula did when I saw her make it and it wasn’t a problem. I mix until smooth. I would also mention that I pressed the juice out of the Pineapple because I didn’t want a runny filling.
I divided the mixture between the two pans.
Bake for 60 minutes.

One important note: If you are using the Perfect Brownie baking pans, be sure to use a good baking spray on it for this cake. This is a sticky, gooey and dense cake and will stick to the separators in baking if you don’t prepare the pan properly.

The Gooey Butter Cake is something I found on the Foodnetwork, about four years ago. It happened, it was just before Walt’s Holiday luncheon, at work. It seemed to be a simple and quick cake with a lot of pop, so I gave it a try. It looked and smelled fine coming out of the oven. I remember wanting a taste, but not being able to find a way to do that, without it looking like a dessert “previously loved” when Walt put it on the banquet table.
When Walt came home, the reviews were very interesting and welcome. He told me, at first , it was kind of “ignored” because people didn’t know what it was. Then someone did try it and THEN people were going back for seconds and thirds. As I recall, Walt had to rush to get a piece for himself before it was all gone.
There are a lot of variations of this recipe, listed on the website. My husband loves coconut. So last year, I added coconut extract and ¾ cup flaked sweetened coconut to the filling, and it was very well received.
A note of caution: Do not overcook this cake. Be watchful. If you over-bake this cake, the crust will get hard…not just crunchy…really hard.

Until next time,
Eat something wonderful
And live a life worth loving
-Kim