Funfetti Gooey Butter Cake
The other day, Jon David went to his first Non-Grandma sleepover.
I spent like 2 weeks trying to think of reasons he couldn’t go, but it was for his best friend’s birthday and they live right down the road. So, I finally gave in and my mouth said, “okay” but my heart was screaming for him to stay home with me and snuggle up with a blanket and storybooks and hot cocoa.
I had him take my husband’s old phone with him, in case there was an Arkansas Earthquake or something, and he got buried under a pile of rocks and needed to call and give me his exact location. I mean, we don’t ever have earthquakes here, but if we do, it would probably be when my 7 year old was at his first sleepover, so I wanted to be prepared.
The evening went fine, I slept with his ratty old bear that he left at home because apparently bringing a stuffed member of the family to a sleepover isn’t COOL.
After a night of tossing and turning, I woke up at 6:30 am, anticipating his frantic call to come pick him up. Surely they’d be trying to force him into drinking white milk for breakfast, or something equally abhorrent that would call for immediate evacuation of the premises.
By 10:30 am, I still hadn’t received a call and was growing concerned. Was he indeed buried under a pile of rocks? Had I slept through a massive quake? Not wanting to seem over protective, I decided to send a quick text and see if he responded.
Within minutes, I got a reply. He was GREAT!! And wanted to STAY AWHILE!!
STAY. AWHILE.
After mulling it over for a few minutes, I decided that the text hadn’t actually come from my son. Probably, he had walked into fire or fell and broke his face, and his parents were buying time while they patched him up so I wouldn’t find out. Obviously they didn’t know who they were dealing with, so I broke my cardinal rule and made a Real Voice call to my son.
And in his real voice (and sounding quite cheerful), he told me he was having a GREAT!! time.
Were they holding up cue cards? Using a voice changer like on the Scream movies? Honestly it was like I was living in an alternate reality.
I held out until 1:30, when I was on the verge of placing a call to 911 to report this kid’s parent’s for breaking my son’s face, and went ahead and picked him up.
He was fine.
FINE!!
Honestly I don’t even know how that was possible. I even checked him for cracks or bruises but he seemed to be in perfect shape. It kind of hurt my feelings, if you want to know the truth. He should have been pale and withered away, his hours and hours of missing me having aged him beyond recognition.
In short, kids growing up is dumb and I don’t recommend it.
Also, kids growing up and having fun without you calls for easy, colorful, and calorie laden desserts. So let’s do this thing.
Your kids will always come rushing home when you have treats like this waiting. And if they don’t, just eat a bunch of these and cry.Funfetti Gooey Butter Cakes
Adapted from Paula Deen The Lady and Sons
INGREDIENTS
- Crust:
- Box of Funfetti Cake Mix
- 1 egg
- 1 stick butter, melted
- Filling:
- 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cake mix, egg, and butter until it forms a soft dough. Press evenly into the bottom of the pan and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add butter and beat until mixed in. Add powdered sugar and beat until combined, then fold in sprinkles and spread over the cake mix crust. Bake for about 45 minutes, until edges are set and center is a bit gooey.
I don’t care what anyone says, it really is possible to eat your feelings.
Enjoy and have a happy Thursday!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I realize you could be doing more important things with your time. Like watching the news or washing socks. I hope you stay awhile. Much more fun than socks, I promise. 
OMG!!! LOVE TO READ YOUR POSTS-I AM HYSTERICAL READING THIS. MY OLDEST JUST TURNED 4 AND NOW I AM DREADING HIS FIRST NONFAMILY SLEEPOVER-THANKS A LOT!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA LITTLE BOYS SHOULD ONLY WANT TO BE WITH THEIR MOMMIES…I AGREE!…FOREVER!!! XOXO
You totally cracked me up! I loved reading this! I could almost hear the words coming out of your mouth–you’re such a good writer! And baker! And photographer! And mom! You got it all :)
Too funny. My parents would probably have preferred your situation. My first sleepover required my parents to come pick me up at 1am. Oops.
BTW your blog should win the most colorful award!
I am all about these bars..the frosting, the sprinkles, the funfetti..FUN!!!!
Oh dear. I must have been the world’s worst mother. I was thrilled whenever someone would take my son overnight. But they were always family — like my mother or my husband’s sister. Maybe that’s why I was totally relaxed and loved the idea of sleeping in and having coffee and the newspaper without interution. (This was 40 years ago and we read newspapers. Real paper newspapers.) Kristan: I love your adorable red polka dot flatware. Maybe you could buy me some for my birthday — or — just tell me where you bought them?
You are killing me these days. Just killing me. I wish I could quit my job and just stay home and bake everything you post.
Haha…I’m glad he was okay and that the earthquake didn’t come. ;-) I’m sure once my little one is born, I’ll feel the same way about kids growing up. Poop on that. Oh, and these look incredible. They’ll make anyone feel like a kid again. :D
Oh my gosh, Kristan. I would be the same way.
Funfett= WIN! Every. Single Time.
I don’t have kids but life definitely still calls for this dessert!
I agree. Kids growing up, totally dumb.
This dessert, however, SO not dumb.
“force him into drinking white milk for breakfast…….”
I almost spit my coffee out after reading this…..can’t believe people still are forcing kids to do that ;)
And I think you right….you CAN eat your feelings ;)
You would enjoy the children’s book Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. Wonderful story about a little boy who has a sleepover for the first time and whether he should or shouldn’t take his teddy bear.
This has fun written all over it. Love these!
Oh, you are so right! I kills me when kiddo as at a sleepover. I want to pick him up around 7:30am the next day. the last one he went to, he didn’t answer my texts in the morning. Or pick up my calls. Then I emailed the mom…nothing. I ended up calling the house (panicked, mind you) and talking to the dad. Turns out, their house doesn’t get good cell reception…and kiddo hadn’t gotten any of my messages. ARRRRGH! He’s never going to that house again. ;)
PS…I’d never leave home if someone made me funfetti gooey butter cakes. ;)
Hooray for a great sleepover! That’s funny about the milk, because one of my friends parents growing up always knew to stock up on white milk when I would be sleeping over because I drank so much of it! I’d love a big glass now in fact with this cake.
Love it. I may have to make these in a few years when my son goes to his first sleepover.
aww, I don’t have kids yet but this post made me want to never let them out of the house when I do!
I have yet to try Paula Deen’s Gooey Butter cake, but apparently I’m really missing out. These look terrific. Everything’s better with sprinkles!
Oh my gosh, how fabulous do these look?? Gorgeous!
That cake looks amazing! So easy and fun. I’m going to attempt it for my best friend’s birthday next week! She’s turning 23 but I’m embracing her inner child and I’m pretty sure she’ll love it! I hope it’s not just your pictures and that mine will actually look that good–I’m not exactly a whiz in the kitchen.
Anyway, just found your blog on a site I use called clipix and it’s really cute. Glad you survived your son’s first sleepover. I will definitely be back when I’m hunting for a good recipe!
My daughter is turning 7 next week and I did not give her permission and I resent the passage of years. We are going on a Family Camp weekend tomorrow and she will be sleeping in the bunks with other children for the first time. Sniff sniff..
And yes of course your dessert looks delicious and pretty!!
Glad to hear you survived — just barely — your son’s first non-Grandma sleepover. Next comes dating and college and… stop! Cute little dessert.
Yum! I would come home for these in a second! We haven’t had a sleep over here yet, and I am dreading it starting!
Aw, I bet my mom went through the same thing. Lucky for her I was a totally neurotic kid and wanted to come home as quickly as possible. Probably a good thing cell phones didn’t exist then.
Can I ask, where did you get your sprinkles? Is that really dumb? But they look exactly like the kind I have been searching for for ages, the really bright colors and a little crunchy (not that soft wax stuff you find everywhere). I’m dying to find them!
I can totally relate. The last time my 9 year old spent the night at a friends house, I couldn’t take it. I baked homemade cookies and made my husband and 11 year old go with me bribe my son into coming home. We showed up at the friend’s door at 8:30 at night with a plate of warm cookies. It totally backfired and my 11 year old decided to stay also. Ugh!
i love you because you love sprinkles and glitter as much as me!!!
I knew your son would make it through his first non-grandparent sleep-over, good to know that you did too! Your butter cakes look like the perfect thing to get your mind off his absence. (Right…as if anything could :0
This looks amazing!
These looks great! I love anything with cake batter!!! :D
LOL – great post! And these look festive and fabulous and Easter-ific, actually. :)
I totally know what you mean. I freak out a bit when Little Buddy goes off to sleepovers with friends. I’m being totally irrational and thinking it’s cool to go play, but at bedtime – I’m picking him up! :)
lol…thanks for the crack ups, needed that this am.
Yes, children growing up is a really dumb thing and should be avoided. I am planning to homeschool mine for university next year.
Sprinkles added to gooey butter cakes? Where has this recipe been my whole life? Do you deliver? Pretty please?
All this just reminded me that both of mine are going to school and I will be *gulp* alone!!!! Guess I better make two!
[...] Funfetti Gooey Butter Cake - The Cookbook Queen has discovered the only thing that could possibly improve a decadent gooey butter cake: Sprinkles. [...]
OH! You poor thing! I guess all us Mom’s gotta go through this at one time or another! What a way to eat our feelings.
YUM!
Lovely! I have no kids, but I will be making these ASAP. Thanks for sharing!
Haha, he is definitely growing up! With an amazing mom and delicious desserts like these though, I know he’ll always want to come home. :-)
We featured this recipe in our weekly food trend blog post. You can check it our here.
http://blog.recipelion.com/food-trend-recipes-with-funfetti/
Thanks for all of the great recipes!
Made these bars tonight and they wouldn’t bake , I’m a skilled baker ( work at a bake shop as well ) and followed recipe to a T. Have had in oven over 1.5 hrs! Has anyone else had this issue ? I’m disappointed they looked so good.
Regardless LOVE the site!