Sure, many people go to California Pizza Kitchen for their pizza, but the CPK butter cake is perhaps even more delicious! If you've ever wanted to make this amazing dessert from home, this recipe will satisfy your cravings!
California Pizza Kitchen butter cake is delicious any time of year. It's rich and sweet, and the perfect way to end any meal. Not to worry; it's also super easy to make! Just mix up two bowls of ingredients you probably have on hand, layer them in a pan, and bake. Then serve with ice cream or whipped cream and wait for your family (and your tummy) to thank you.
I love copycat recipes, because I have gotten more and more where I don't like to eat out all the time. Plus, we're an hour away from the nearest California Pizza Kitchen, so this isn't an easy craving to fill at their restaurant! (I have the same issue with Lupe Tortilla's fajitas, except they are half a country away, which is why I made my version of their recipe.)
🥘 Ingredients
Most of these ingredients you probably already have on hand; they're all fairly standard items for baking!
- butter
- cream cheese
- eggs
- all-purpose flour
- sugar
- salt
- vanilla extract
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪 Instructions
Making the cake is also pretty simple! Just mix up ingredients in two bowls with a hand mixer or stand mixer, layer them in ramekins or a cake pan, and bake!
1. For the cake layer: Cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and salt, and beat to mix.
2. Slowly add flour to mixture, continuing to beat as you go. Use a slow speed to avoid spraying flour all over your kitchen ;) Set aside.
3. For topping: In another bowl, cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add half an egg (see tips below) and vanilla extract, and beat to combine.
4. Prepare a 9-inch cake pan by greasing it with vegetable shortening or butter and then coating with flour. (See tips below)
5. Spread first mixture into pan and smooth to make a flat layer.
6. Spread the second mixture on top, and smooth again as needed. Bake in 325 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
After cooking, allow the cake to cool completely, then serve with vanilla ice cream and/or dollops of whipped cream.
Tip 1: To use half an egg, crack it into a separate bowl, and scramble it with a whisk or fork. Use some kind of scoop - a small measuring cup works well - to take about half of the egg out. It doesn't have to be exact!
Tip 2: To prepare a pan, you first need to grease it. You can use butter or vegetable shortening (like Crisco), and apply it with a wadded-up paper towel to the bottom and sides. It doesn't need to be very thick, but try to not leave any dry spots. Then put a small amount of flour - maybe half a tablespoon - into the pan. Turn and tilt the pan while tapping the side, so that the flour is distributed and covers the previously-greased areas. If any loose flour remains, tap it into the garbage!
📖 Variations
If you order the butter cake at California Pizza Kitchen, you will see it's baked in individual portions. You can do this yourself by using ramekins and dividing the cake batter and topping among each one. The cooking time may be less, depending on the size of your ramekins, so be sure to use the toothpick test earlier than 45 minutes!
If you use ramekins, you can serve the cake still in the ramekin, or remove it to a plate to better copy what CPK does in their restaurants.
🍽 Equipment
To make the CPK Butter cake, you will need:
- 2 medium mixing bowls
- 1 small bowl to scramble and divide the egg for the topping
- hand mixer (a stand mixer works but may be overkill!)
- 9-inch cake pan (or ramekins)
- measuring spoons and measuring cups
- a whisk and a spatula
🥡 Storage
Store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
❓ FAQ
Reheat in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. Then add ice cream or whipped cream before serving.
If you want to find a CPK restaurant in person, use the location finder on their website.
Recipe
CPK Butter Cake
Equipment
- 1 small bowl to whisk an egg
- 1 9-inch cake pan only one pan is needed; either works fine!
- 1 whisk
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
Cake Layer
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
Topping Layer
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ egg room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Set out 2 eggs, 2 sticks of butter, and cream cheese to soften and come to room temperature
- Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit / 163° Celsius
- Begin with the cake layer. Place butter, cream cheese, and sugar into one of the mixing bowls. Use a hand mixer to cream these ingredients together.
- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and salt, and use hand mixer to beat until combined.
- Keeping the hand mixer on low, slowly add flour and mix until all of the flour is incorporated. Set first mixing bowl aside.
- Moving on to the topping layer, cream together sugar and cream cheese with your hand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat to combine. Set second mixing bowl aside.
- Prepare 9-inch round pan or ramekins by greasing with butter or vegetable shortening, then dusting with flour.
- Spread the contents of the first mixing bowl into the prepared pan, and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Spread the contents of the second mixing bowl on top of the first layer, but do not stir. If necessary, smooth this layer as well.
- Bake in a 325° Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool before carefully removing from the pan. Slice and serve alone, with ice cream, or with dollops of whipped cream.
Iram
I tried this recipe and am not sure what happened but after 60 mins of cooking i took it out of the oven and the cake is swimming in a pool of bubbling liquid butter. I have already poured out almost half cup and theres still more!! Where did i go wrong??
Susan Petracco
Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that. I don't know what went wrong, unless maybe you didn't measure something properly. I'll test again soon and make sure I don't have any errors in my write-up, too.
Susan Petracco
Iram,
I tested this recipe again this weekend and didn't have any problems with the measurements, but I did notice a couple of typos in my instructions. Step 4 said sugar instead of salt, but the sugar had been used in Step 3. Maybe that caused your issue, if you doubled up on sugar in the cake layer and did not use salt? Step 6 also left out the vanilla listed in the ingredients for the topping. I hope the recipe is better now with those errors corrected. If you try again, please let me know if it works better the second time!
Shanita
What size ramekins would you use? 8 or 4 ounce?
Susan Petracco
Shanita, I haven't tried it, so I'm not absolutely sure. Mine are 4 ounce (or closer to that than 8 ounce) and I think they would work great. I suspect both would work, you'd just have twice as many 4-ounce cakes as you would 8-ounce ones. I'll try it soon, if I can find time, and report back. Gives me an excuse to bake and eat this again!
Bj reeves
I didn’t have a 9” pan. So I used a spring form pan.
Butter liquid filled the bottom of my oven and set off 3 smoke detectors.
Haven’t tasted it yet because the birthday party is tomorrow.
Will let you know how final product tastes
Susan Petracco
Oh no! I did something similar many years ago with potatoes. It was a Martha Stewart recipe and didn't call for a springform pan, but it was what I had. I also set off smoke detectors because the inside of my oven actually caught on fire. And my extended family was visiting for Christmas. They've never let me live it down! I hope your oven is ok!
Dr. Keima
Amazing recipe and my family and friends absolutely love it. I am having a problem with it rising in the middle though. It's always done, but the middle is flat and the rest of the cake is fluffy. The first time I cooked it, I used a 9 inch pan as instructed and it cooked outside of the pan and messed up my oven. I took a small portion out the 2nd time and cooked it in a small round pan and it worked much better. I'm trying a larger and deeper heart shaped pan this time so I'll let you know how it turns out. Pair it with Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream for that CPK taste.
Susan Petracco
Dr. Keima, is your pan non-stick? You might try switching up and using whichever one you didn't already try. Non-stick pans bake a little quicker, I think, and maybe less evenly. That said, I use a non-stick pan myself. And when I do it, the middle might be SLIGHTLY flatter but nothing that would be really noticeable.
Michelle
I too had the swimming in butter issue. Everything was room temperature and I'm an avid Baker so I creamed butter and sugar together till it was nice and fluffy then added the egg Incorporated well moved on to the cheesecake topping which that part seemed to turn out fine. I also used a glass bottom springform pan since I don't have ramekins. I don't know if the pan Style would have anything to do with it but I'm frustrated because I know it's not supposed to be like this. You could pinch a cut piece and pull butter out of it
Susan Petracco
This is baffling to me, because I haven't been able to recreate it. Did you use 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)? Since you said you're an avid baker, I assume that measurements weren't the issue, but I had to ask.
I wonder if it's altitude causing it? I'm almost at sea level.