These deliciously sweet brown butter bars are made with a yellow cake mix and a cream cheese topping. You only need a small bite of these Ooey Gooey Brown Butter Bars so the recipe serves many!

I finally booked AUSTRALIA!! WOOO FREAKING HOOOO!!! Bondi Beach here I come and the Whitsundays, well we haven't booked that little holiday within the big holiday but we are in the process. I am so excited to get away, I need a major break that is for sure. Work has been insane!!

This time two of my beautiful cousins are living in Australia so we are going to have a fun girly trip! I have already started researching Chocolate Tours of Sydney.. I mean come on!! Seriously, get in ma belly!! And Max Brenner!! Ugh, how I love thee.

And to be honest Max Brenner in Vegas & NYC are shit compared to all the Max Brenners in Australia, and I went to many- anyone that we saw we visited. I am sure my cousin Lucy is thinking oh no they are coming again, I am going to have to spend so much time at Max Brenner. She hated it, but secretly I think she loved it. We would go in and order 8 things for 3 of us. Ha it was fabulous!!!!! Waffles, ice cream, chocolate, strawberries, bananas, caramel, drinking chocolate... the list goes on.

I have one regret in life, and that was the first night we were in Australia we went to dinner but I had caught a 48 hour fever, sickness thingy so after dinner Lucy suggested going to Max Brenner and I turned it down, little did I know I would spend every single other day in Australia at Max Brenner. Lesson learned, DO NOT TURN DOWN A CHOCOLATE BAR!

Another thing I am excited about is the banana bread. Everyone eats banana bread for breakfast there. And toasted with buttah allll over it! Which is lovely cuz people in the States think I am a freak for slathering buttah all over my banana bread. But damn it is so good!! Oh, I can imagine it now.

ooey gooey butter bars on a wire rack with a glass of milk, bowl of sugar, plate, knife and linen on a light grey surface

Ingredients

For this delicious bar recipe you will need:

Yellow Cake Mix. You'll need one standard 15.25oz box of yellow cake or butter cake mix.
Butter. I've used both salted and unsalted and don't notice too much of a difference since the cake mix already has salt in it. We will brown the butter for a deeper, nuttier, caramelized flavor profile. You can check this post on how to make Brown Butter. Since you need 4oz of browned butter I would brown 6oz as some of the liquid butter will evaporate when browning it.
Eggs. We use the eggs in both the crust and topping. Eggs need to be at room temperature to properly incorporate into the rest of the ingredients. You can get your eggs at room temperature quickly by placing the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes before using them.
Cream Cheese. It is crucial that your cream cheese is completely softened to room temperature, trust me, if not this will ruin the end product!
Pure Vanilla Extract. Do yourself a favor and use the real stuff!
Confectioners Sugar. Also known as powdered sugar this sugar melts into the cream cheese making a perfectly smooth batter, just what we want!

box of butter golden cake mix on a grey surface

Instructions

First things first let's preheat the oven to 350F/180C. You need your oven properly heated for the bars to cook correctly. Also, line a 9-inch square pan with foil so that the foil overhang on the sides- this will help you remove the bars later. Then make sure to spray every nook and cranny with non-stick spray.

Now let's brown this butter. You want to make sure to give complete attention to browning butter otherwise you can easily end up with burnt butter!

brown butter in a white and turquoise ceramic pitcher on a grey surface

In a large bowl combine the cake mix, egg and brown butter.

brown butter poured into cake mix and egg in a glass bowl on a grey surface

Mix together until completely combined.

cake batter bar mix in a glass bowl on a grey surface with a navy linen

I like to use a spatula to help me push the cake batter into an even layer.

hand using a spatula to press cake bar mix into a foil lined pan

Now for the topping! It is based off of cream cheese so please I beg of you make sure your cream cheese is completely softened to room temperature.

Beat the cream cheese for a minute or two, it should be completely soft, light and fluffy, with no lumps.

cream cheese whipped in a metal mixing bowl on a grey surface

Mix in the confectioners sugar then add the egg and vanilla extract. After combined add the second egg. Make sure to scrape down the bowl to ensure everything is evenly combined.

egg and vanilla extract added to cream cheese mixutre in a metal bowl on a grey surface

Your batter should be on the thinner side with no lumps.

cream cheese batter for cake bars in a metal bowl on a grey surface with a blue linen

Pour on top of the crust and bake the bars.

brown butter cake bars in a foil lined baking pan before baking on a grey surface with a blue linen

You want the middle to be set but still a bit jiggly, so you have the soft topping.

ooey gooey butter bars just out of the oven on a light grey surface with a linen and knife

Let the bars cool completely before slicing- you can see in my old photo at the bottom of the post that I cut those bars before they were completely cool so the topping had not set fully. In these new photos you can see the soft, thick gooey topping but it has set properly since I let them cool completely.

plate full of brown butter gooey cake bars on top of a white and blue linen on a light grey surface

up close of hand holding a ooey gooey butter cake baron a light grey surface

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Recipe Card

Brown Butter Cake Bars

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5 from 3 reviews

Print Recipe

These deliciously sweet brown butter bars are made with a yellow cake mix and a cream cheese topping! You only need a small bite of these Ooey Gooey Brown Butter Bars so the recipe serves many!

Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: 16-20 Bars 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

Crust

1- 15.25oz Box Yellow Butter Cake Mix
4oz (½ Cup/1 Stick) Unsalted Butter, browned (How to make Brown Butter)*
1 Large Egg, at room temperature

Topping

1-8oz block cream cheese completely softened to room temperature
2 Large Eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
360 grams (3 Cups) Confectioners Sugar/ Powdered sugar

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Instructions

Crust

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and line a 9" X 9" pan with foil and grease, set aside.
In a medium bowl combine cake mix, brown butter, and egg, mix until fully combined. Press into prepared pan, I like to use a spatula to help me get an even layer.

Topping

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat cream cheese for 2 minutes, add in eggs and vanilla extract beating until combined. Add in powdered sugar, beat until combined.
Pour batter on top of crust and bake for 30-40 minutes, you want the middle to be set but still a bit jiggly. Let cool completely before cutting.