Mastro's Warm Butter Cake

Wassup, Wassup, Wassup...

Ok, so I'm starting this post while the product is still in the oven which is unusual for me, but I already have so much to say and you'll see why.  So any readers who know me personally know I'm a huge fan of Wendy Williams and her show, don't judge me lol.  A few Monday's ago Wendy was raving about a dessert she had while in LA the previous weekend, the Warm Butter Cake was from Mastro's Restaurant in Beverly Hills I believe and I was immediately intrigued.

Wendy is such a lover of food that anything she describes will make your mouth water, but this description was on another level.  Within the week I was ordering the necessary pans on amazon.com and had tracked down a recipe to point me in the right direction.  Wendy described the cake as a small warm flaky cake that had a gooey, cheesy, buttery layer in the center.  Everything about this cake made me excited, especially the pictures and reviews I found of it online.

Luckily, I enjoy a good laugh even if its at myself, so I am going to include the pictures of this nightmare, as well as the picture attached to the recipe so you can see how far left I was lol.  We'll just call this attempt #1, it may be a while before I'm willing to try again, but I will, probably when I have company, I won't inhale cake batter in front of anyone, HA!! yeah right.

My problem with recipes and pictures is that they put a somewhat unrealistic expectation of the end result, which can be discouraging in the event of imperfection.  I say all that to allude to my reason for beginning this post before the timer even goes off on the oven.  I did a number of things wrong, first off, I started to make this cake when I was hungry, knowing that it takes 60 to 75 minutes to bake, and it didn't get into the oven until almost 9:30 p.m.  I completely bypassed dinner with super high expectations of this cake, and its Tuesday so my hope was to eat it while watching Sons of Anarchy, high pressure, Epic Fail!!

This picture accompanied the recipe, somehow I mentally blocked what the end result should be, ooops!

I ran to Publix for the three items I was missing, butter, cream cheese, and sea salt, then began to throw it all today, carefully following the rules.  The trouble really began when I finished mixing the basic batter for the cake and tasted it, I'm no good once my appetite is spoiled.  Cake batter is so yummy who could concentrate after tasting it, everything after that was a big sugar-induced blur (I regret to type).  I maintained a level head up until it was time to fill the pans.  In my defense I've never used these pans, but with that said, I really do know better.

This was the cake batter, still needed room for the top layer LOL, hungry brain!

I have enough baking knowledge to know that cake pans shouldn't be filled, the cake needs room to grow.  As you can see clearly in the pictures, my common sense departed my cake-batter filled brain at this point and I proceeded to cram as much batter and cream cheese filling into these poor unsuspecting pans.

Sidebar: I just took the cakes out of the oven and I've peeled some of the mess I made off the side of the pans and its pretty damn yummy.  A little on the crispy and dark-skinned side, but I likes my hard skin lol.

Back to the story, my realization that I had made a mistake came too late, when the batter started spilling out over the side of the pans : ( (wamp wamp) lol.  At this point there isn't much I can do to undo the mess, so, I decide there's no turning back, the mess is made.  Another thing is that while mixing the batter I wondered why such a large amount of batter was necessary for four small pans and what I would do with the remaining batter.  BTW, this is not a healthy dessert by any means, very rich and indulgent, one stick of butter per mini cake which serves two.

Ok, its the next morning, and I'm retracting my statement last night about this being attempt #1.  I just tasted the cooled final product and its AMAZING!!  Aside from the crusty dark edges I had to flick off this turned out great.  After work I'm going to get some vanilla ice cream to try it a la mode the way they serve it at Mastro's.

Each of these four cakes has its own life story:

#1 I picked at throughout the day, then went to sleep and left it sitting in the microwave, not taking a chance eating it the next day.

#2 I took the second cake out of the fridge to get it to room temperature and left it on the counter, while working in the front room I started hearing this loud noise, by the time I could get off the phone and make it to the kitchen Sophie aka demon dog had successfully pulled it to the floor and made her way through the ziploc bag, garbage!

She looks sweet, but don't be fooled...

#3 I was careful to keep somewhere visible and out of Sophie's reach, I topped it with Vanilla Bean Haagen Dazs ice cream and then realized that I didn't have the Raspberry Syrup I intended to use, ate it without it.

I forgot to mention that the cake needs to be microwaved for about 1 minute, depending on the size before serving. & NO, even my greedy @$$ couldn't eat the whole thing : (

I don't know if you can tell with the melting ice cream, but the center is just as buttery and gooey as Wendy described (mouth watering).  And if you were considering substituting the sea salt for regular salt, DON'T  the sea salt is EVERYTHING!! Salty Sweet Goodness!!

#4 Realized that the cake is so rich I really only need a few bites at a time, so I cut it into four pieces to enjoy in moderation.

This Recipe makes 4 mini cakes, allegedly...

Cake Batter
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Layer

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325.

Spray 4 mini springform pans with baking spray.

Prepare the cake batter

In a stand mixer cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar for 1-2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat on low for 20 seconds after each addition. Whisk flour and salt, then add to creamed mixture. Beat on low until just incorporated, making sure not to over beat.

Prepare the cream cheese layer

In a small bowl whip together cream cheese and granulated sugar until creamed, add egg and vanilla extract.

Pour cake batter into prepared springform pans then top with a layer of the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 60 – 75 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes.

Thanks for reading this super long post ; )