Dessert

Caramel Chocolate Butter Cake Bars

These caramel butter cake bars are like cheesecake but with a thin crust and chocolate chunks! So delicious and perfect for parties.

To recipe
butter cake bars on a tray cut into squares

Love this recipe?

Make meal planning easier with our new meal planner.

Save hours on meal planning
Smart grocery lists
500+ curated recipes
Print to PDF
Recipe insights & TIPS

Delicious and creamy caramel chocolate butter bars! These are so good and so easy to make.

butter cake bars on a tray cut into squares

This post is sponsored by Premier Protein.

I had never experienced butter cake until a few years ago when I visited a well known bbq joint, but I figured that If I love butter and cake then it stands to reason that butter cake would be a total winner!

And I was completely correct. Butter cake has a unique texture. It’s sort of a hybrid of a brownie and a blondie, and can’t be missed with that thin crusty layer on top that covers a creamy custard-like filling and all baked on top of a buttery pastry crust.

Butter cake tastes amazing already but I think I elevated the flavor to make this butter cake ten times better than a regular butter cake by adding Premier Protein Caramel Shake and topping the whole dessert with silky dark chocolate chunks.

That’s right, I added caramel protein shake, and it was seriously amazing! Brownies are one of my favorite things to bake in the kitchen but this caramel chocolate butter cake has made me rethink my brownie relationships. This was creamy, buttery and the caramel protein shake could definitely be tasted but wasn’t so overpowering and sweet.

protein shake with butter cake bars

Premier Protein Shakes are beneficial in lots of ways, but being high in protein and ultra low in sugar are two of my favorites. Also at only 160 calories per shake, they make a smart choice for fuel after or even before a workout at the gym.

They’re well packaged to manage, so grabbing a chilled one from the fridge is easy but don’t assume they’re just for drinking. You can actually cook and bake with them as another way to get that 30 grams of protein per shake.

I usually try to replace another liquid that might be asked for in a recipe with a protein shake and it’s always worked out for me.

Making the caramel chocolate butter cake bars.

You’ll need a stand mixer or hand mixer to get volume into the mixture. It’ll resemble a regular cake mixture or a thick cheesecake batter.

You’ll make the base first by combining flour, butter and powdered sugar and pressing that into a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Adding the filing.

Once the butter cake filling has been mixed at high speed for about five minutes and is thick enough to leave a ribbon trace, all that’s left to do is pour it over the pastry base.  Spread it out evenly and add your chocolate chunks.

I prefer to buy a decent quality chocolate bar and roughly chop it up rather than use store bought chocolate chips that can contain other ingredients and don’t melt as well as the purer chocolate. Aim for a chocolate that’s 72% cacao which is dark but not bitter.

butter cake bars on a tray

Can I use another flavor of protein shake for my butter bars?

Yes, of course although the caramel is so good!! Any flavor would be awesome although Vanilla and Cookies and Cream would probably be my next favorite choices.

How do I store my butter cake bars?

I recommend keeping them in the fridge in a sealed container. They’ll also be fine at room temperature for a few hours but I prefer the chilled texture that the filling ends up becoming. It’s a little bit like caramel custard flan.

A white, fluffy chef's hat with an orange band, logo of Foodness Gracious.

Recipe

Delicious, rich and creamy. These caramel butter bars are amazing and ready to rock any summer party or pot luck you attend! A little bit like a cheesecake but with a butter cake crust and thick chocolate chunks!

Course:
Dessert
COOKing TIME:
40 minutes
Total TIME:
55 minutes
CUISINE:
American
PREP TIME:
15 minutes
SERVINGS:
1

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 8 oz chilled butter grated

FOR THE FILLING

  • 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
  • 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup Premier Protein Caramel Shake
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chunks, roughly chopped

Ingredient Swaps

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Rub a 13×9 inch baking pan with some butter and line with parchment paper.
  2. Make the base by combining the flour, powdered sugar and grated butter in a bowl.
  3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press down evenly with a  flat bottomed glass. set aside.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and creamy.
  5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the caramel shake and flour mixing well until there are no lumps.
  6. Transfer the mixture into the pan and spread out evenly.
  7. Carefully sprinkle the chopped chocolate bits over the surface and place in the oven.
  8. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the butter cake is firm but sill slightly wobbly.
  9. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Try Foodness Gracious
Meal Planner

1 month free
Access to all features
500+ recipes
A white, fluffy chef's hat with an orange band, logo of Foodness Gracious.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @foodnessgracious on Instagram and hashtag it #foodnessgracious so we can see all the deliciousness!