Looking for an easy dessert that will impress your family and friends? These decadent Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars are knock your socks off good and quick to put together with just six ingredients.
Recipes that start with a cake mix are the ultimate time savers. These Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars also use ingredients that most of us have on hand the majority of the time. That means this is one recipe we can whip up for a last minute dessert or afternoon snack for the kiddos.
You always have at least one package of cream cheese (or 4) in your refrigerator, right? Please tell us we aren’t the only ones that consider cream cheese a kitchen “staple”!
Gooey Cake Ingredients:
Layer 1:
Yellow Cake Mix
Eggs
Melted Butter
Layer 2:
Cream cheese, softened
Eggs
Powdered Sugar
Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars Recipe
A mom of one of Barbara’s high school friends would make a version of these yellow cake mix dessert bars, and when she ran across this recipe in her Glenwood (college cooperative) stash, she had to know if they were one in the same.
Her verdict? Barbara was pleasantly surprised to find out they were indeed just as delicious as the ones from her memories. They are rich, decadent, buttery goodness, and the entire pan always disappears. We recommend making these for any pitch-in, party, or gathering. Kids and adults alike love them.
We recently had a reader (hi, Lori!) share that her mom made these and her family called them “Mmmm Bars.” We love hearing from readers when our recipes bring back such good memories!
How to Make Gooey Bars with Cake Mix:
- Mix together cake mix, butter and eggs and press into bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan.
- Beat cream cheese, eggs and powdered sugar until smooth; spread over the crust layer.
- Bake at 350 degrees F around 35 minutes.
For the cake mix gooey bars recipe and ingredient list, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Notes About Ooey Gooey Butter Cake:
- These cream cheese bars have two layers. The recipe calls to make the first layer, spread into the pan, and then make the second layer. We use the same bowl for both layers. No need to do extra dishes.
- To prevent scrambling your eggs with the melted butter, allow it to cool for a couple minutes before adding to the batter or add it to the cake mix first, stir, and then add the eggs.
- Be sure the cream cheese is at room temperature to prevent clumps.
- Do not over bake these cake mix cream cheese bars. Baking too long will make them less-gooey.
- Substitute a white cake mix for yellow, if needed.
- Cake mix bars can be modified for your liking. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see our favorite variations.
- Visit our Amazon Store for our pantry essentials and favorite kitchen gadgets.
How do I store ooey gooey bars?
People often ask if ooey gooey bars need to be refrigerated. Due to the cream cheese in the batter, these gooey cake bars will mold if left out at room temperature too long. To be safe, we recommend storing the leftovers in the refrigerator.
Can I freeze ooey gooey bars?
Yes, absolutely. Cut into bite-sized bars, wrap tightly in saran wrap, and then place in an air-tight zip-lock bag for the best preservation method.
Our Favorite Recipes Using Boxed Cake Mix
Need some more ideas for those uninspiring boxed cake mixes in your pantry?
We have plenty of ideas for you:
9 x 13 Sour Cream Coconut Cake
Do you have a favorite way to kick a cake mix up a notch?
Ooey Gooey Bars Variations
Leftover Candy Ooey Gooey Cake
Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars
Ingredients
Cake Mix
- 16.5 oz. yellow cake mix
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2 eggs
Gooey Mix:
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 2 eggs
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Mix cake mix, melted butter and 2 eggs together and press into a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- Beat cream cheese, 2 eggs and powdered sugar until well incorporated.
- Spread onto cake mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over-bake.
- Cut into individual bars to serve.
Notes
- These cream cheese bars have two layers. The recipe calls to make the first layer, spread into the pan, and then make the second layer. We use the same bowl for both layers. No need to do extra dishes.
- Be sure the cream cheese is at room temperature to prevent clumps.
- Do not over bake these cake mix cream cheese bars. Baking too long will make the less-gooey.
- Substitute a white cake mix for yellow, if needed.
- Need some more ideas for those uninspiring boxed cake mixes in your pantry? We have plenty of ideas for you: Easy Cake Mix Caramel Bars, Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls, Cherry Almond Dump Cake, Triple Chocolate Cake
Nutrition
Linking up to Meal Plan Monday.
For diabetic could I use splenda in place of powder sugar??? Thanks!😀
Deb – We have not tried anything other than powdered sugar in this recipe. Here’s a link to a blog post that talks about using a bit of corn starch with Splenda in a food processor to make a substitution for powdered sugar (https://www.thespruceeats.com/sugar-free-powdered-sugar-replacement-521019) but we haven’t tried it!
These all look delicious!!! How can you choose????
I made this the night before for Sunday school the next morning. Kept it in the fridge overnight. I stopped at 3 cups of sugar and omitted that last 1/2. They were plenty sweet enough. Except for a couple of cream cheese haters, this was a hit. Thanks so much for sharing this.
So glad they were a hit. Thank you for letting us know!
As if we hadn’t had enough sweets at Christmas, I saw these and thought they would be a perfect reward for taking down the tree tonight. Bit, was I right!! Thank you for sharing such a decadent treat! It’s definitely going into my recipe box!
Donna, thank you for the note. We love these too and they are the perfect reward!
Do these need to be refrigerated?
They don’t need to be refrigerated but you can if you’d like!
Can fruit be added to these? Like blueberries or strawberries?
We haven’t added fruit to the cake but you definitely could. Either drop them on the top and press down before baking. Maybe stir in strawberries into the top layer before adding to the pan. Good luck!
Can you use a white box mix? That is what I have on hand.
Julie-You should be able to use any type of cake mix. We haven’t made them with a white cake but we love a good white cake!
My family likes this with german chocolate cake mix the best. i hv made these with lemon,chocolate,& german chocolate cake mixes
All are very good.
Those all sound amazing. My husband would vote for German Chocolate cake mix too!
I made the ooey gooey bars today with a lemon box cake mix and added a couple tablespoons of lemon juice to the topping. WOW! EXCELLENT, thank you. This WILL be a repeat ♡
We love lemon and this sounds amazing!! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing, making it tonight, hope everyone likes it….
Hope they enjoyed it!
There were addictively good. I’m going to switch up the mixes. First time I made these, I made them exactly as above. The were delicious and gone in three days. I want to do this recipe using lemon cake and lemon juice in the cream cheese mix. I also want to try it with either strawberry cake mix or strawberry cream cheese. Great recipe with endless options for variations.
So glad you enjoyed them and yes, there are so many variations you can do! Good luck!!
My husband went to the store for m.j e and got the cream cheese that is 1/3 less fat will this work i should i go get the regular cream cheese
You should be OK with the cream cheese you have!
Has anyone tried this with a red velvet cake mix?
That’s what we use when we make them for Christmas and we sprinkle green sugar sparkles on top before serving
These are one of my favorite treats! Warning though!! These are ridiculously addicting. I usually eat the entire pan within 2 days if I don’t take some to my friends to share. Definitely give this recipe 5 stars!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Life changing
Lana – We agree with sharing these to avoid eating them all!! Thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed them as much as we do!
Ran across this recipe today and it brought back, fond mems of making these 40+ years ago with my mother. The recipe name was different, we called them Mmmm bars… wink..
We still make them every holiday.
Love that name and the memories. Thanks for sharing!!
We use red velvet cake mix and put red dye in the cream cheese mixture at Christmas. Leave a square for Santa, it’s always gone on. Christmas morning
Made exactly but added a swirl of mixed berry jam before baking. Excellent, will be making many times over. Thank you,
The swirl of jam sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is fool proof. I am a retired single man and remember my mom made these. I thought they were probably hard to make. I love these things and could not be easier to make. I found this recipe a while back and now make them quite often. give half to my daughter as if left here, I would eat them all in no time.
They are so easy, right? We have to share too or we’d eat them all. Thanks for sharing!!
One of our favorite family recipes!!! Only thing we do different is that we sift an additional layer of powdered sugar on the top when we take them out of the oven. It looks pretty and tastes great!
We love that addition!! Thanks for sharing.
Can you please tell me if two eggs go in both layers? 2 eggs on bottom layer and 2 eggs on top layer? So 4 eggs in all.
4 eggs in all, if you scroll down to the recipe card, you’ll see ingredients for each layer and it indicates 2 eggs in each layer for a total of 4. Thanks!
Can you use a tub of ready made cream cheese frosting for second layer?
We wouldn’t recommend that substitution.
Question… mine were still runny in the middle. Help! What did I do wrong!?!?
They probably need a few more minutes in the oven. All ovens cook a bit differently.