Pumpkin Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars
Traditional butter bars get a little upgrade with these Pumpkin Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Bars! Pulling flavors from the delicious combination of two fantastic desserts, gooey butter cake and pumpkin pie — it’s the perfect fall or anytime dessert idea!
So what is a gooey butter cake?
Hailing from St. Louis, this “cake” is a Midwest classic. It’s made using yellow cake mix, butter, eggs, and cream cheese, resulting in a layered dessert with a buttery, soft crust, an ooey, gooey cheesecake-like middle, and a delicate, flaky top.
It’s all about the texture for me!
I love the versatility of the original recipe. With a few minor tweaks to this classic, you have a completely new dessert. For this version, I added pumpkin puree, vanilla, and spices. This pumpkin ooey gooey butter bars recipe screams fall!
Ingredients you’ll need:
- A boxed yellow cake mix is the base of the cake bars. Using a boxed cake mix makes this recipe even easier to pull together. You’ll need a whole box of mix.
- You’ll use eggs in the cake batter base and the pumpkin filling. The eggs will help the bars to set.
- You can’t have pumpkin butter bars without butter! And you’ll need plenty of it. You will thank me later. 🙂
- The pumpkin filling is made using cream cheese, pumpkin puree, and powdered sugar.
- And to bring all the fall flavors, you’ll need vanilla, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
A Few Tips
- The consistency of the pumpkin filling will be “loose” and very easy to pour. This consistency is expected and is why we can call this dessert ooey gooey!
- When you remove the bars from the oven, you want to ensure the center is not wet but jiggles slightly. You are not looking for a stiff cake. After 30 minutes of cooling time, they will set up perfectly.
- Before serving, finish your bars with powdered sugar or whipped topping — but not too much in advance. The sugar may dissolve, and the whipped topping may melt if the bars are too warm.
Can I use fresh pumpkin to ooey gooey pumpkin bars?
Absolutely! You can swap 1 can (15 oz) of pumpkin puree with 1 3/4 cup of fresh pumpkin. Use baking (sugar or pie) pumpkins when making pumpkin puree. Slice the pumpkin in half, place them side down on a baking sheet (paid link), and roast for 50 to 60 minutes. Once roasted, place the pumpkin flesh into a food processor (paid link) and blend for 3 to 5 minutes until smooth.
Do pumpkin gooey butter cake bars need to be refrigerated?
You can refrigerate only if you plan to enjoy the bars after 3 days. Before then, the bars can be stored in an airtight container, wrapped in aluminum foil, and kept at room temperature. After 3 days, the bars can be placed in the refrigerator for up to a week or stored in the freezer (in a freezer-safe container) for 2 months.
If you enjoy dessert bars, you should also check out our No-Bake Sweet Potato Cheesecake Bars and Luscious Lemon Bars!
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Pumpkin Ooey Gooey Butter Bars
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
Pumpkin Ooey Gooey Butter Bars are the delicious flavor combination of two awesome desserts, ooey gooey butter cake, and pumpkin pie — it’s the perfect fall or anytime dessert idea!
Ingredients
- 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
- 4 eggs, divided
- 16 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Combine the yellow cake mix, 2 eggs, 8 tablespoons butter, and pumpkin spice in a bowl. Evenly press the cake batter into a lightly greased 13×9-inch baking pan. Set to the side.
- In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the 2 eggs, vanilla, and 8 tablespoons butter, and mix. Mix in the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture over the cake batter.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the filling begins to crack and is set but jiggles slightly. Make sure not to overbake, as the center should be a little gooey.
- Cool for 30 minutes. Cut the cake into squares.
- Serve with dusted powdered sugar or fresh whipped cream with a sprinkle of pumpkin spice.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 560
- Sugar: 54.4g
- Sodium: 471mg
- Fat: 28.6g
- Carbohydrates: 72.4g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 5.8g
- Cholesterol: 117mg