Raisin cake grapes." Some recipes in the United States circa the early 1900s utilized lard as an ingredient, which could be used instead of butter. Boiled raisin cake is a type of raisin cake whereby various ingredients are first boiled, after which the batter is placed in cake pans then baked. It is sometimes prepared with the omission of some standard cake ingredients, such as butter, eggs or milk. Boiled raisin cake may have a moist consistency. The cake dates back to the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), when it was prepared in frontier areas using the Dutch oven. Basic
Gooey butter cake at room temperature or warm. The cream cheese variant of the gooey butter cake recipe, while close enough to the original, is an approximation designed for easier preparation at home. Almost all bakeries in the greater St. Louis area, including those at local grocery chains Schnucks and Dierbergs, use a slightly different recipe based on corn syrup, sugar and powdered eggs—no cake mix or cream cheese is involved. The cake was supposedly first made by accident in the 1930s by a St. Louis-area German American baker who was trying to make regular cake batter but reversed the proportions of butter