Gooey Louie Provides a Native Sweet Treat

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Walking into the store is like walking into a yellow and purple Easter basket, except when you take a second look you realize the Easter bunny is not going to pop out and surprise you; however, the comical gooey butter cake character, Gooey Louie, just might.

Gooey Louie is a family-owned gooey butter cake bakery in the heart of southwest St. Louis at 6483 Chippewa. Gooey butter cake has been a staple in St. Louis bakeries supposedly since it was first accidently made by a St. Louis resident in the 1930s.  Gooey Louie has made an entire business out of producing gooey butter cake for St. Louis residents who crave the treat.

Owners of the store, Kirk and Debbie Stieferman, call themselves Louie’s personal assistants.  Their philosophy for making gooey butter cake stretches back through four generations. 

"My mother, grandmother and I used to make these at home. Our recipe sticks with a homestyle version, but from scratch. No cake mix," Debbie said. "You couldn't go out and buy a gooey butter cake with that quality." 

The public tends to agree about the quality of cakes Debbie makes. The Stiefermans decided to open Gooey Louie to share their cakes with everyone in St. Louis after Debbie experienced a strong showing with her gooey treat at the Best of Missouri Market in 2006. Since opening Gooey Louie, Debbie and Kirk have implemented a unique, small family business philosophy when it comes to baking their gooey butter cake. They believe in reducing the mass production that they say seems to be at every turn of businesses today. They eliminate a lot of the chemicals and preservatives put in their product, and they try to slow down and simply make really good cake.

And make really good cake they do.  Gooey Louie not only offers traditional gooey butter cake, but the bakery also offers flavors like Chocolate Chippewa, HWY 40: Driving Me Nuts, Lets Go Blueberries and Blackberry Addict.  With so many flavors and such great St. Louis style names, it’s difficult to choose just one flavor to try. 

"I think once people taste the cake, they realize it is a special cake, and not just something mass-produced at the grocery store." Debbie said. "And, we have a gift box for every occasion featuring the Gooey Louie character. So, lots of people have come to associate Gooey Louie as a special occasion cake."

Since Gooey Louie is just a storefront, the bakery lacks an actual area in which to sit down and enjoy the sweet treat.  This is unfortunate since the store has such a fun interior design and a semi-nostalgic atmosphere of old St. Louis style.  Nonetheless, great bite-size cakes, Baby Louie’s, and gooey butter cake cookies make it pretty easy to grab the treat and run.

For those who can't just grab a treat and run because they do not live in the St. Louis area, Gooey Louie helps solve that problem. The store sees a substantial demand for long-distance deliveries.

"Gooey Louie gooey butter cake is perfect for out-of-towners. You can't drag any Imos or toasted ravioli on a plane," Debbie said. "We can seal the cake and package it for traveling inside the Gooey Louie "Hello From St. Louis" box."

For more information about the bakery or to place an online order visit http://www.gooeylouiecake.com/index.php and visit the gallery to view more photos of Gooey Louie.