Miz Paula Deen may call it a Gooey Butter Cake but where I'm from, it was called a Cheese Kuchen. I guess I was about a teenager when Carolyn Jones gave my mom the recipe. It was a favorite since I love cream cheese and anything made from it.
I've made them for bake sales, potlucks, church dinners and such. The original recipe follows, but I have used different flavors of cake mix over the years. Sadly, I never met a kuchen I didn't like.
Cheese Kuchen
Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix (makes 13 x 9 or 2 layers)
1 stick butter, melted
2 eggs
1 - 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 - 16 oz box powdered sugar
Directions:Preheat oven to 350° F.
With your mixer, blend cake mix, butter and 2 eggs together - batter will be thick. Spread in the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 pan.
Next beat cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Add powdered sugar in stages - I usually add about a quarter of the box at a time to prevent problems (like the sugar flying all over the kitchen).
Pour cheese mixture over the crust.
Bake for about 35-45 minutes. The top will brown a bit, look "crackly" and the crust will have come up the sides to enclose the filling.
Let cool and cut into squares. About 12 squares per cake.