Where to find the best gooey butter cake in St. Louis

Find the best food in St. Louis

For years, Robin Lieneke has been perfecting her gooey butter cake recipe, coming up with ever more creative offerings – fruity pebbles and s’mores flavors, for instance – with every passing day. After taking over Zanti’s Deli in 2025, Robin has been carrying on the shop’s legacy while infusing it with her buttery masterpieces. Now renamed to reflect her passion for baking, the shop is a gooey butter cake powerhouse, boasting over 100 unique flavors of the dessert, as well as her signature item, gooey butter “goons:” taking inspiration from crab rangoon, Lieneke stuffs wontons with gooey butter cake, then deep fries them to make a molten, decadent dessert. Who said you can’t improve on perfection? 181 Concord Plaza Shopping Center, Sappington.

Gooey butter cake ice cream is not Clementine’s only homage to the St. Louis dessert. The award-winning creamery also makes a fantastic gooey butter cake – which goes into the ice cream – that folks can enjoy in its own right. The cake is so good, it took home the gold at the 2026 Specialty Food Awards Bread and Bakery category. The cakes can be found at local scoop shops or shipped nationally through Goldbelly. See website for locations.

As one of the best bread bakeries in town, it makes sense that Companion’s baking prowess extends to its gooey butter cake. Sold in single-serving bar size, Companion’s version has a thick, caramelly texture that deliciously puts the goo in gooey butter cake. 9781 Clayton, Ladue.

When St. Louisans think of The Cup, thoughts typically go straight to its outstanding cupcakes. However, the bakery, with locations in The Central West End and Edwardsville, Illinois, is also quietly making some of the best gooey butter cake in town. Available for in-store pickup and online shipping, The Cup’s version has a substantial cake base and crust which creates a beautiful canvas for the goo that balances out the sweetness. See website for locatins.

You can find other prominent gooey butter cake names at Dierberg’s, but the regional grocery chain’s in-house bakery, sold under the label Dierberg’s Bakehouse, turns out some excellent cakes in its own right. Their classic is a top-notch example of the form, and its flavored varieties, like chocolate chip or blueberry, offer fun twists on the original recipe. See website for locations.

The only thing about Federhofer’s Bakery that garners as much attention as its iconic sign is its gooey butter cake, a beloved version of the dish that is available everyday in the shop in traditional or chocolate chip. Call ahead, and they will make you a turtle-topped one, which turns the concoction into an even gooier masterpiece. 9005 Gravois, Affton.

While other area bakeries around town offer gooey butter cake, Gooey Louie has made the St. Louis original its entire business model. For two decades, this specialty bakeshop has been serving a wide variety of creative flavors of gooey butter cake from its two area locations and across the country via nationwide shipping – a fitting homage to Gooey Louie’s inspiration, founder Debbie Stieferman’s grandma Ann Duffy, who carried on the tradition of making gooey butter cakes even after she’d moved to Atlanta. See website for locations.

Helfer’s may have gotten its start in Ballwin in 1977, but proud Florissantonians claim it as their pastry institution since it relocated to its storefront in Old Town in 1992. The classic bakery is the area’s go-to for birthday and baptism sheet cakes, whipped cream cakes, pies and cookies, and its gooey butter cake is a perennial favorite. Made in the classic style with a delicate cakey exterior and generous goo factor, it’s a quintessential version of the form. 380 St. Ferdinand, Florissant.

Kaldi’s may be one of St. Louis’ most beloved coffee brands, but its food program deserves equal consideration. Pastries are a strong point, and the gooey butter cake may be the best example of the brand’s sweets prowess. Creamy, melt-in-the-mouth and made with just a hint of vanilla to give the cake some complexity, it’s the perfect pairing for Kaldi’s excellent java. See website for locations.

St. Louis institution McArthur’s describes its legendary gooey butter cake as in the “South City style,” meaning the square cake is balanced between a delicate dough that firms up around the edges and a decadent, gooey interior. Its caramelly sweetness and powder sugar coating makes it a decadent sweet treat. See website for locations.

This Hill mainstay is such an embarrassment of sweet riches, it can be difficult to nail down exactly how you want to indulge. A signature chocolate drop? A slice of coffee cake? A couple of traditional anise-inflected Italian cookies? Making decisions more difficult is the bakeshop’s excellent gooey butter cake, a decadent masterpiece that tastes as homemade as if it was made in grandma’s kitchen. 2027 Edwards.

Do not let the name fool you; Park Avenue Coffee may be known for its java, but its gooey butter cakes are what has made the brand famous. Park Avenue began selling its “Mom’s Traditional” out of its original Lafayette Square cafe and has since grown into a multi-unit business that ships its gooey butter cake world-wide. Flavors have also grown; now, you can get flavors like red velvet, white chocolate raspberry and triple chocolate, still made with the same small batch, quality ingredient ethos that has defined Park Avenue’s cakes from the beginning. See website for locations.

When he was a kid, chef and owner Russell Ping got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas and got to work immediately perfecting his cookie recipes to eventually sell at the local pool. That passion for baking became the animating force at his debut bakery, Russell’s, which he opened in Fenton with his mom in 2006. Two decades later, Russell’s has expanded to include two locations serving up delightful cafe fare, though Ping has never strayed from the baked goods that gave him his start. His gooey butter cake is lauded by many as the best in the area, thanks to its delicious crust that cuts down on the gooey sweetness. They’re so beloved, Ping and company do a robust business shipping the cakes nationwide, though us locals can find several varieties of them in area grocery stores, as well as his two cafes, whenever the craving occurs. See website for locations.

Schnucks may be a large regional grocery store chain, but its bakery turns out desserts that taste like they come from a corner bakery. The best example of this is Schnucks’ gooey butter cake, which is a quintessential version of the form: flaky crust, rich buttery center and a crackly crust that gives great texture to the goo underneath. See website for locations.

As a storied St. Louis institution itself, Straub’s takes seriously its commitment to honoring the legacy of gooey butter cake by adhering as close to the original recipe as possible. The grocer bakes the cakes from scratch with a firm, cake-like base that can be sliced like a brownie while still retaining that signature gooey top layer. See website for locations.

Mary Hancock may no longer be at the helm of Yolklore – she sold the business she founded to Chris Westbrook in 2024. However her trained pastry chef touch is still felt in the form of Yolklore’s excellent gooey butter cake, which can be regularly found amongst its pastry offerings and on its catering menu. 8958 Watson, Crestwood.