Gooey Butter Cake

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Teas, Marigold Petals, Natural Flavours, Organic Flavours
Flavors
Lemon
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Southern Boy Teas
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 15 sec 12 oz / 354 ml

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47 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I am falling more and more in love with this tea. It’s such a wonderful lemon black, and the floral note just puts it over the top. I’m going to be hard pressed to find a lemon flavored tea I love...” Read full tasting note
    97
  • “So, I know I just posted about this tea but I decided to see if this tea could be re-steeped. I got more water and steeped it for four minutes. I put two and a half teaspoons of sugar in my mug....” Read full tasting note
    75
  • “I think I’m going to let this one sit and meld a bit longer, as I am not getting much out of it beyond a touch of lemon zest. I added agave, but it didn’t really change anything. It just tastes...” Read full tasting note
  • “Trying another tea from ch3rryprincess! Thank you! This has been on my “to try” list for a while, and it has been all I can do to keep myself from ordering it. Brewed up, the aroma is quite...” Read full tasting note
    75

From 52teas

Thanks to Azzrian for the idea for this blend. I actually think my wife is a little upset she didn’t think of it first. She makes an awesome gooey butter cake.

My wife is fond of telling people that she has no idea how I manage to make such amazing teas since my cooking skills are more or less limited to ramen noodles and microwave popcorn. Likewise, I have no idea what sort of magic she employs in creating a gooey butter cake. Yes, I could look at one of several recipes for gooey butter cake, but I prefer to believe it is magic, because a gooey butter cake (for those of you who have never had one), is one of those beautiful things that shouldn’t be discussed in such muggle terms as a recipe. It’s way better to have someone make one for you and assume they possess magical gifts.

So, this evening, I am here with a big tumbler full of iced gooey butter cake tea, and it is definitely, buttery, sweet, cakey, and just all around gooey-butter-cakey. It kind of reminds me of the Pancake Breakfast, it has the same depth of character, but of course it’s not pancakes, it’s gooey butter cake. Honestly, if I hadn’t just spent so long looking at images of gooey butter cake and writing about gooey butter cake, this might very well satisfy my craving for gooey butter cake, but the truth is, I’m seriously hoping my wife reads this and decides to make me a gooey butter cake. [I love you baby.]

Our Tea of the Week for the week of September 17, 2012

About 52teas View company

At 52teas.com, you will find unique, hand-blended artisan loose leaf teas: a new limited edition creation every week of the year. We pride ourselves on offering truly unique, one-of-a-kind tea blends that you won’t find anywhere else.

47 Tasting Notes

97
1118 tasting notes

I am falling more and more in love with this tea. It’s such a wonderful lemon black, and the floral note just puts it over the top. I’m going to be hard pressed to find a lemon flavored tea I love as much as this one, but the next time Frank releases a tea with lemon notes I will be buying! Also, I’m bumping up my rating because I like this more than the first time I reviewed it.

I’m sipping this while listening to the rain fall outside. It’s supposed to turn to ice later tonight, so I’m thinking we’ll be staying put tonight and a good part of tomorrow. Can’t say that this bothers me. Maybe I’ll see how much of my stash I can bust through while we are iced/snowed in. There are definitely worse ways to spend a weekend!

To all the New England Steepsters, be safe! It looks like this storm is going to be a doozy and not something to be taken lightly!

Emily M

Just started snowing here in Upstate NY. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as they say. I plan on drinking as much tea as I can, too! Might as well, if I’m stuck in the house. ;)

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75
557 tasting notes

So, I know I just posted about this tea but I decided to see if this tea could be re-steeped. I got more water and steeped it for four minutes. I put two and a half teaspoons of sugar in my mug. Stirred it all up.

Oh my! The flavor is richer with the added sugar. Much more gooey cake. The tartness of the lemon is mingling with the sugar and giving me that sweet-tart flavor that I wanted the first time.

I’m probably going to see exactly how many times I can re-steep this before the flavor gives out. I didn’t think the flavor would still be this bold with the second steep.

Edit: The answer to that question is that you can steep this about three times.

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1220 tasting notes

I think I’m going to let this one sit and meld a bit longer, as I am not getting much out of it beyond a touch of lemon zest. I added agave, but it didn’t really change anything. It just tastes like potential.

It does remind me a bit of Pancake Breakfast but lighter, and of course now that I’ve let it cool a lot more I can taste buttery cake. Or maybe it even reminds me of crepes, I like mine with a bit of lemon zest.

Also I have never had a gooey butter cake so I really don’t even know what I’m looking for other than butter and cake. I have just pulled up a recipe though, and next time I have a reason to bake for a bunch of people, I’m making it.

For anyone else who has objections to Paula Deen’s cake mix way (baking snob, sorry), here is a from-scratch way: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/03/st-louis-gooey-butter-cake/

LiberTEAS

I didn’t know she had a cake mix for this … but, I LOVE the premade gooey butter cake that is available at walmart. Especially the lemon gooey butter cake. OMG. That might even be better than lemon bars. I’m starting to drool just thinking about it.

momo

Her recipe uses cake mix, there’s not a specific one as far as I know.

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75
6107 tasting notes

Trying another tea from ch3rryprincess! Thank you! This has been on my “to try” list for a while, and it has been all I can do to keep myself from ordering it.

Brewed up, the aroma is quite interesting and tasty. I can smell a lemon verbena sort of lemony aroma, backed by caramelly aromas and a black tea base. Unfortunately, IMO, this tea smells more promising than it tastes. Sure, it’s lemony (kind of a lemongrass/lemon verbena sort of flavour), but other than a hint of sweetness, that’s all I’m getting, yet bitterness is already poking through in spite of a careful 2.5 minute infusion in a Finum basket. This is certainly not bad, and I’m sure it’s great sweetened, but I much prefer black teas with more caramelly flavour (which I was hoping this one would have in addition to the lemon).

(I’ll admit, it’s been about 5 minutes since I wrote this and neglected to hit “post”, and it’s growing on me a bit. Still not caramelly enough for me, but I do kind of like it, haha.)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Indigobloom

I can’t imagine Azzrian liking this lol

Rebecca Lynn

^Yeah…me either, actually?

Kittenna

I know…!

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3294 tasting notes

Sipdown!
Actually, I didn’t drink the last cup, it was my son, Drew, but I told him I’d post it.

For those who don’t know, Gooey Butter Cake was invented in St. Louis in the 1930s when a local baker accidentally used the wrong butter (the gooey butter instead of the deep butter). Because it was around the depression, they sold it anyway, & people loved it so much that they started making it all of the time.

In St. Louis, you can get gooey butter cake almost anywhere, but it’s not something I’ve eaten, due to my intolerances to dairy, gluten, & sugar. The only other ingredient it contains is eggs!

So I can’t say for sure if this tea tastes like the real deal, but it was an interesting tea, with a nice lemony essence to it.

TeaLady441

Mmmm. Both the cake and the tea sound good!

Josie Jade

Oh I love gooey butter cake. My fiancee has a friend who always makes a gooey butter cake for him since he’s from St. Louis. This may just be my favorite thing about St. Louis, haha!

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807 tasting notes

Yay!!! Its here!!
Its steeping RIGHT NOW as I type this!
I can’t wait – I can’t wait!
I’m like a kid at Christmas!
My Gooey Butter Cake tea came along with my Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake today!
Of course I had to try this first although honestly – that Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake tea smells SO SO AMAZING!
Not that this one doesn’t but I think the CPC has a stronger aroma.
Okay let me check my brew here…. Auggg who am I kidding it has not been long enough – but let me tell you its smelling GOOOOOOD!
I think the only thing that was disappointing about getting this tea was I was secretly hoping for some of Frank’s wife’s (wish I knew her name) home made gooey butter cake haha. Yeah I don’t want much do I!?!
Its time!
OKay this is one of those teas you really NEED to add a little sweetener to.
I took my first couple of sips and it was good but I was not getting that CAKEY or GOOEY flavor – added a little rock sugar – AMAZING!
I don’t mind having to add a little sugar now and then to some teas – especially when they are DESSERT teas like this one. Now if I had to add sugar to a tea from teavivre, or mandala, or verdant, or stone leaf etc that would be wrong, but this is meant to be decedent so its fine with me.
With the sugar added its quite lovely. A good black base to hold up the interesting flavors of the gooey butter cake. There is a lemony flavor here too.
Gooey butter cake can come in just the regular flavor or a multitude of flavors really ANY flavor you can imagine.
This one has a lemon zest to it. Its nice.
There is also a toasty quality to it as well.
I am not sure I am going to have to sit with this for awhile. I am getting a bit more of a creme brulee flavor from it which trust me is NOT a bad thing, but I need to just study this one a bit longer and maybe use more leaf – I was light on the leaf in this steep.
Oh and I am absolutely going to have to try this ICED as well like Frank had it!

CHAroma

Oh, how I’ve missed you Azzrian! Love this tasting note!

Azzrian

Aweee thanks! You have only been popping in here and there it seems hope all is well with you!
I took a few days off myself last week though so maybe you were referring to me being away lol

CHAroma

No, I meant me. Hahaha! Sadly, I’ve been so busy of late that popping in here and there is all I have time for. I’m moving in 2 weeks, then off to 2 weddings at the end of the month, plus trying to plan my own. I’m trying to catch up on posts but they seem to appear faster than I can read them! I may not be catching up for quite some time. ;) Still, I really miss the Steepster community.

Azzrian

Geesh your busy! But all good things it seems!
No need to reply – go catch up lol

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96
4843 tasting notes

OK… first, I need to thank Azzrian for suggesting this flavor. It is so amazingly good.

I love Gooey Butter Cake. My favorite one is the Lemon Gooey Butter Cake from Paula Deen’s baked goods that are sold at WalMart. I don’t like to shop there, it’s like my least favorite place to shop, but, when I do shop there, I always visit the bakery in search of Paula Deen’s Gooey Butter cake, specifically, the lemon gooey butter cake. Oh my goodness it’s so good. But I’m pretty sure it is not healthy. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite of that, and something I shouldn’t eat. So the idea of having a gooey butter cake in a tea flavor without all the fat and calories that I’d get from the gooey butter cake, that’s sounds like a wonderful alternative to me.

Now… I’m not going to say that this is just as good as a gooey butter cake, because … it isn’t. Nothing really takes the place of the gooey butter cake, but … I think that this tea is tastier than NO gooey butter cake, and that’s about how much gooey butter cake I should eat. NONE. This is really good, and has the flavor that I love from the gooey butter cake (a little more lemon might be even better since I prefer the lemon variety). Sweet, buttery, rich, yummy.

And fat free.

Sil

Mmmmm makes me wish I’d gotten this one lol either that or I need to make a cake this weekend :)

Azzrian

Your welcome :)

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70
408 tasting notes

Thanks to Azzrian for permitting me to taste my first 52 teas.

So inversely with a crème brûlée I have nothing to say about gooey butter cake, I never had the chance to taste one.
I made some research about this cake and it seems really nice, maybe one day I’ll try to do one.

I must confess something (I hope 52 teas would forgive me !) : seeing the picture I saw…a Hachis Parmentier !and I found this very weird…but knowing that a bacon maple tea was existing…I research the Gooey butter cake recipe and was totally reassured !

The dry leaves scent is really amazing, so fruity, absolutely divine.
Brewed I get a very thin aroma of pastry but the leading note is more fruity and clearly lemony.
Lemon is the star of this tea I think.
The black tea is smooth and pleasant but I didn’t find it very much character.
This is a nice afternoon tea, probably ideal to go along with a pastry.
I’m looking forward to taste this famous Gooey Butter cake pastry now !

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec
KittyLovesTea

I hadn’t heard of gooey butter cake either but bought the tea out of sheer curiosity. Perhaps this Christmas I can be a little naughty and make one :) They do look delicious! Nice review.

Ysaurella

thanks KittyLovesTea – Americans have a lot a delicious pastries- as you I should try to make one these days :)

Terri HarpLady

In St Louis they serve gooey butter cake everywhere, as it originated here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gooey_butter_cake
Of course, with my inability to eat products with gluten, diary, and sugar, I’ve never tasted it. I have had the tea, however, and although I don’t drink a lot of ‘dessert’ teas, I did like the lemony-ness of it!

Ysaurella

Terri it’s a pity you can’t taste it – I saw this cake was originated from St Louis – this town should be so lovely !

Terri HarpLady

St Louis is a wonderful place! I love it here!

momo

I can’t even imagine how amazing that cake would taste with the far better butter you have in Paris!

Ysaurella

Momo, sure I’ll use the Beurre de Normandie for it, probably our best butter in France (along with the Breton one…I don’t want to reactivate the war between Norman and Breton !)

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76
107 tasting notes

So. I expected to be able to review a bunch of samples today and yesterday. My plan for my day off yesterday and today was to sit down happily with some tea and play my new copy of old-skool Riven.

That did not happen.

You see – work before play – I decided to first update some Ops forms I created for work and print off more. We absolutely need some for Tuesday. Which was the point when I discovered that the ENTIRE Microsoft Office Suite had mysteriously vanished from our computer.

My sister – in a stunningly self-centered move – uninstalled it because of a minor, annoying, Word-related prompt that appears at start-up. (This is left over from a tech-stupid, failed attempt on our part to install a more complete language pack to Windows.) My sister – who is disabled and does not work or go to school, unlike the rest of the family – somehow decided, “No one uses this, anyway,” and deleted Word, Excel, Powerpoint…

So I spent all of yesterday trying to System Restore and whatnot to fix it. De nada. We are now stuck with no working word processing/spreadsheet programs except crappy free ones. So unless we can borrow old installation discs off someone, we will probably need a new computer. Like we can afford that. Oh, and in the process of trying to fix that, I temporarily couldn’t get Riven to work, either. What a day. I had to vent, guys.

But my 52teas order came today! That’s such an improvement over yesterday, seriously. Just that. Huge improvement.

I decided to try this one first. When I cracked open the bag, wow, what a great smell! It’s very lemon-y on top, but there’s definitely something like butter and cake underneath that. Very promising.

I steeped this up – about 12oz worth with a scant teaspoon of rock sugar – and…the taste is…the taste is… Hmm. Um.

I’m not sure what this tastes like. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to taste like. Does cake taste like this? It’s pleasant enough, but I don’t get “cake.” It’s quite lemon-y.

Overall, it’s pleasant, but I wasn’t sure what to think of it. There’s a quality to it that’s almost like a tiny bit of sourness or astringency, and a tiny note of bitterness. I decided to add just a touch more sugar (white sugar, so that it would dissolve) and some milk. My instinct was that the milk would mellow this one out.

Wow! Did the milk ever help! I’m not so sure about the sugar because I can really taste it; but mellowed with milk, the better notes of this tea really shine through. It’s got a nice balance of lemon and sweet to it. I definitely think I taste something closer to “cake” at the bottom of the sip now (not the back, mind you, the bottom, let’s be specific here), but…damn that white sugar! Seems to be killing things. Man, why did I ever put this nasty stuff in my tea?! Never again, I swear. I’ll just suffer through it not being as sweet! Blech!

VERY nice with a bit of sugar and milk, anyway. Definitely has a “comfort food” factor to it, a good gaming tea!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Bonnie

You can order them pretty cheap or download which is less than a new computer. ALTHOUGH, I do like my HP all in one a lot!

Janefan

Many schools have a program where you can download the MS Office suite for much cheaper (under $50) if you are a student. Also, at the very least, buying the software from Microsoft should surely be cheaper than buying a new computer! Then again, if it was a legit copy to begin with, there must be some way for Microsoft support to help you restore or replace it. (Or maybe there are backup discs that came with your computer, if it was pre-installed?) Bottom line is if you owned the software there’s no reason you should have to buy it again just because it was uninstalled. You still have rights to it, as I understand it.

Janefan

ps – as crappy word-processing software goes, Google Docs is ok and easy to use. It’s web-based, so there’s no software to download, and it’s tied to a password-protected Google account, so no one should be able to delete your stuff.

Daniel Scott

@Janefan – Thank you for the suggestion! I found Google Docs earlier today, will set it up now that I have a testimonial.

We borrowed the installation discs from my aunt (who owned them but had never used them). We gave them back, apparently, and she is a hoarder (it runs in my family) and while her place is livable it is hard to find stuff in there. She may never find those discs again. :(

I was under the impression that we could download the programs! But my mother insisted we would need to buy a computer with them pre-installed, and that what you download is only the access code. None of us are tech-savvy! I will talk to them again.

Janefan

To buy the software directly from Microsoft (you download the program from their website and install it yourself; it’s really not much different from using the discs) starts at $120 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/ or if you are “verified” as a student (not sure what that entails), $100: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.229301900
But seriously I would try your school first if you are full time or even part time student, call the IT helpdesk and ask if they offer MS Office for student use at a discount. When I was in college (granted, 10 yrs ago) it was only about $20 or $25.

Janefan

oh! Microsoft now has “MS Office Web Apps” which I think is a free online version (trying to compete with Google Docs?). I don’t know what the “catch” is (I think you at least need a hotmail or microsoft email account), but may also be worth looking into. http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/web-apps/office-web-apps-FX101860442.aspx

Ok I’ll stop bombarding you with info now. PM me if you have questions. Disclaimer, I’m not a tech expert, just a technical writer/editor and grad student who uses this stuff a lot. I know just enough to be dangerous!

Angrboda

Forget Microsoft. You can install Open Office for absolutely free. It has the same array of programs, and although some of it looks slightly different it can do the same things. It can also open MS Office files and you can save in MS file format by default if you prefer to do that. I made the switch to OO many many years ago and haven’t looked back since.
You can also look into LibreOffice, which I believe is an off-shoot of the OO project. They’re open source.

Daniel Scott

My aunt might still have the installation discs after all! Crisis probably averted!

Thanks for your kind comments and help, everyone! I will keep everything in mind for the future.

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297 tasting notes

Received this one from kittylovestea.

I’m not exactly sure what gooey butter cake is suppose to taste like. But it sounds & looks good.

I’m only getting a nice lemon taste from this with a nice black base. No butter, no cakey goodness. I do have more to give it another go. But right now just a plain old tea that you would turn into iced tea.

ETA: I had this again yesterday. I went & oversteeped it… ok next weekend I am investing in a real tea timer!!
So I was still getting only lemon & some astringency because of the over steep. Once it cooled I did get some of that delicious bakey flavour. I do have enough for one more cup, so I will try it again!

ETA 2: Finished this off this morning, some strange smell coming from the pouch. No astringency this time, but not much flavour. Still lemoney, maybe a hint of cake this time around. Definitely DID NOT over steep this time, no astringency to be found.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
BoxerMama

3 minutes is perfect for 52teas. I murdered a tonne of their caramel cheesecake serving before figuring it out.

tattooed_tea

I’ve started doing all my blacks at 3 minutes, but without a time I have been butchering SO many teas :(

Kittenna

I actually even go for 2.5 mins with 52teas blacks. That’s usually the sweet spot for me.

And yeah, nearly all blacks I steep for 2.5-3 minutes now. Except DavidsTea and Della Terra, which are much better with 4 minutes.

Sil

52 teas is 2-2.5 for me on their blacks. 3 and it’s too atringent

TeaLady441

When I started I steeped everything for 5 min because I figured I’d get the most flavor, then I’d be upset about bitterness. Now I have a tea timer app on my phone, and I add my own so I can remember to steep 52 teas less than DavidsTea etc. Hearing what others do is also useful.

tattooed_tea

Cavocorax, I was the same. All blacks got 5. Greens & whites 3 & herbal/fruit/rooibos about 10.
Some teas I really need to check other people’s notes for steeping times.

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