Gooey Louie Dedicates Its New Brick-and-Mortar Location to St. Louis’ Favorite Dessert

Nothing compares to gooey butter cake. Rich, moist and tender, it’s arguably the best dessert in St. Louis. “It’s not fancy,” Debbie Stieferman, founder of Gooey Louie, says. “It’s just comfort food at its finest, and that’s what we specialize in.”

The Best of Missouri Market, an annual fall festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, kick-started Stieferman’s business in 2006. Over the years, her fan base has continued to grow, calling on Gooey Louie to sweeten special occasions year after year.

While classic gooey butter cake is the heart of the bakery, Gooey Louie also offers seasonal flavors. The pumpkin spice is perfect for this time of year, while the blueberry is considered a summer delicacy. Turtle Park, the second-best-selling flavor, features a chocolate crust, caramel “goo” and a heap of Missouri pecans and a rich chocolate drizzle on top. Stieferman’s favorite flavor, however, is the chocolate-peanut butter.

If you want to try more than one flavor – and why wouldn’t you? – Gooey Louie also sells individual servings, which are available at its new brick-and-mortar location at 11266 Olive Boulevard.

Here, Stieferman chats about her inspiration for launching Gooey Louie, the new shop and more.

What’s your first memory in the kitchen?

I remember making Christmas cookies with my mom in North County, where I grew up. I also have fond memories in the kitchen with my great-grandmother. She’s from St. Louis, but she moved to Atlanta, and when she came to visit every year, we would make gooey butter cake together. After she passed away, my mom and I carried on the tradition, and that’s what inspired me to start Gooey Louie.

What makes your gooey butter cake so delicious?

Our gooey butter cake is made from scratch, and we don’t skimp on the ingredients. There’s butter in every part of the cake: the crust, the cake and the goo. Some people say that gooey butter cake is too sweet, but when they taste cakes from Gooey Louie, they like them because the butter makes for a sweet and savory experience.

Tell me about the new brick-and-mortar location of Gooey Louie.

It’s a little gooey butter bakery – and the only one at that. The shop is centrally located on Olive Boulevard in Creve Coeur, and you can easily park and pop in for a cake. I call it “five minutes of happy” because everything about the shop evokes happiness. The aroma of gooey butter cake welcomes you when you walk through the door, the walls are painted butter yellow, you can see the cakes being made and you can grab a cake for any occasion. We’ve always been known for our packaging for special occasions, whether you’re celebrating a birthday, a graduation, a holiday or even baseball season – our Redbird Velvet gooey butter cake is a home run for your game-day spread. People also love to order individual gooey butter cakes for weddings and conventions. The “baby Louies” are baked in individual tins, and we include a small utensil in each bag. You can even personalize the label on the bag with your company logo or the names of the bride and groom.

Gooey Louie ships nationwide, so you can indulge in gooey butter cake wherever you live. The delectable dessert also makes for a great host gift during the holidays.