Description

A classic St. Louis dessert made dairy free and gluten free. Yellow cake is covered in a sweet and creamy "gooey" layer with a perfectly flaky top.

Ingredients

Bottom cake layer (see notes for a shortcut):

1 1/2 C almond flour
1/4 C + 1 Tbsp coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 C honey
4 eggs
1/2 C (one stick) earth balance soy free buttery sticks, melted

Top gooey layer:

8 oz (one package) Daiya plain cream cheeze style spread, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 C (one stick) earth balance soy free buttery sticks, melted
1 tsp gluten free vanilla extract
1 lb powdered sugar (grain/corn free, if needed)

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a lightly colored, metal 9x13 inch pan. *see notes*
Using either a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat together the honey, 4 eggs, and 1/2 C butter alternative.
Sift the almond flour, coconut flour, and baking powder into the wet ingredients and continue to combine. Pour this batter into the greased pan and use a spatula to spread it out more evenly, if necessary.
Using a mixer again, beat the cream cheese alternative until it is as smooth as possible (it may stay a little lumpy but you will be able to completely smooth it in the next step).
Add the two remaining eggs, the other 1/2 C butter alternative, and vanilla extract and beat until completely smooth.
Gradually mix in all of the powdered sugar. The end result should be like a smooth batter. Pour this over the bottom layer and gently tap the pan on the counter to get it to spread out evenly.
Bake for 35-50 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. The center should still be a little jiggly and finish setting once it's removed from the oven. Additionally, some oil will pool on the top of the cake - don't confuse this oil with undercooked batter or you could end up over cooking it. The ends of the cake should end up a dark brown but not black.
Once the cake has been removed from the oven and cooled, you can either leave it as-is or dust with additional powdered sugar before serving.

Notes

This recipe traditionally has a dark brown crust but if you don't like yours as dark, you can line the pan with parchment paper and it shouldn't darken as much.

Brands other than those I've linked to in the ingredients section may or may not work but these are the brands I tested the recipe with. The only exception is the grain free powdered sugar - I used conventional powdered sugar but either one will work fine.

Shortcut: make the bottom cake layer by using store bought gluten free yellow cake mix as close to 19 oz as possible. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to combine the cake mix with one egg and 1/2 C of the butter alternative - it will be crumbly. Press this into the bottom of the pan and proceed to make the gooey layer as directed.