A 5-ingredient, family-favorite sugar cream squares recipe

As a lifelong Hoosier, I’m quite familiar with sugar cream pie. It’s certainly popular here. But I don’t enjoy many pies and, honestly, I don’t really like sugar cream pie. (I know. My Hoosier “card” may be revoked for saying so!) However, growing up, my aunt often made this sugar cream squares recipe. And those I love.

When we went to St. Louis last year, I was excited to try its gooey cake. When I did, I found that it tasted a lot like this sugar cream squares recipe, but it wasn’t quite the same. Ever since then, I’ve had a hankering for these delectable squares, so I had to pull out the old family recipe and make some for us.

I’ve eaten this recipe many times, but I hadn’t yet made it myself. I was surprised to find it only takes five ingredients and is so incredibly easy. Sometimes when we have something nostalgic, it almost takes away the magic of it when we make it ourselves (or maybe that’s just me!). But this was just as good. It tastes like childhood in a creamy, sugary, sweet way. My family devoured it.

One other item of note is that this recipe uses cream cheese. I’m a longtime proponent of not using cream cheese in most dessert recipes. I feel like it almost always belongs solely in the savory foods category. But, I’m totally on board with it in this sugar cream squares recipe. Probably mixing in all the powdered sugar helps!

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The first layer

First, get your oven preheating to 350-degrees and then start with making the crust or bottom layer. Melt one stick of butter or margarine. I do this in the microwave, usually at about 60 or 70% power. Then stir in 1 yellow cake mix and one egg. It will come together as a thick mixture/dough like this:

Next, put your crust mixture in the bottom of a 9×12 cake pan. My Rachael Ray cake pan is great for not sticking, but if you’re unsure, spray yours with a bit of non-stick cooking spray.

Spread the mixture as evenly as possible over the bottom of the pan to form the crust in this sugar cream squares recipe.

Set the pan aside and make the second layer next.

The second layer

Next up in this sugar cream squares recipe is the second or top layer. Soften your cream cheese if it isn’t already, and place it in a large mixing bowl. I made the top layer in my stand mixer to save my arm some work, but you could definitely do this by hand as well. Add 3-1/2 cups of powdered sugar to the bowl with the softened cream cheese.

Stir or beat them together well until they are combined.

Once they are combined well, add in two eggs and keep mixing until the eggs are totally incorporated. The mixture will should have the consistency of cake batter or a runny pudding.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top of the crust layer and spread it evenly in your pan.

Time to bake

Put the sugar cream squares into your preheated oven at 350-degrees and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until it’s golden brown. I baked mine for 38 minutes and until it looked like this:

Let the sugar cream squares cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before cutting them. The great thing about this sugar cream squares recipe is that they are delicious warm and delicious at room temperature. Either way, I know your family will love them as much as mine does!

(Keep scrolling past the printed recipe to find a video of the recipe!)