st. louis all-stars

So, I'm sitting back, watching St. Louis show off its new Busch Stadium (and NL MVP Albert Pujols!) in the 2009 All Star Game, thinking about some All Star foods from St. Louis. Perhaps the oldest and most recognized consumables native to St. Louis are the bubbly adult beverages from Anheuser Busch. The AB brewery was started waaaay back in 1860, and is still a St. Louis icon! A few foods made popular in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (a.k.a. the St. Louis Worlds Fair) in 1904 are: Dr. Pepper, iced tea, hot dogs, hamburgers, peanut butter, cotton candy, and waffle cones (for ice cream). More recently, St. Louis favorites have come to include toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake, and crunchy-thin-crust pizza (of course, topped with provel cheese). What's the only way you can make these specialties any better? Make them chocolate, of course!

Here is my favorite Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake recipe (thank you, Marla) for you to try at home.

• 8 TBSP (1stick) butter, melted, plus
• 8 more TBSP (1 stick) butter, melted , plus additional butter for greasing pan
• 1 (18.25-ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 egg, plus 2 eggs
• 1(8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3 to 4 TBSP cocoa powder (the more the merrier!)
• 1(16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
• In large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 1 stick melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside.
• Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs and the cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer, and add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed.
• Slowly add the remaining 1 stick melted butter, and the vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture until smooth.
• Spread filling over cake mixture in pan.
• Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking.
• Let the cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.