St. Louis cult favorite — gooey butter cake — serves as the springboard for a new Kansas City bakery … with a twist. It also sells gooey butter cookies.
“Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis tradition. It’s where I’m from and we have the family recipe,” said Tennille Lampe, founder of Oh My Gooey KC, which recently opened its 11119 N. Oak Trafficway specialty bakery to retail customers. “I think it is pretty rich, indulgent with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. A beloved Midwest dessert.”
Lampe grew up in St. Louis and joined the U.S. Army after graduating from high school. She then had stints as a treatment coordinator for an orthodontist office, then retail management positions that brought her to Kansas City, then back to an orthodontist office when she needed a more balanced schedule.
But she took a big pay cut.
“After the career change I had way more hours than I was used to and I knew I was going to have to supplement my income. Plus I got bored,” Lampe said.
Baking had always been part of her routine, especially making treats for her children’s high school functions and family parties (Cody, now 25, Isabella, now 22, and Dillion, now 15). She used her great-grandfather’s gooey butter cake recipe but tweaked it for cookies — same ingredients but different portions and steps. Through the years, she concocted different flavors.
Lampe figured those cookies could generate extra income for her family.
In March 2023, she whipped up about 240 cookies in eight different flavors, and set them up at the Spring Vendor Fair by DSPA in Belton, Missouri.
“From Day 1, we provided samples to everybody. So they could experience it’s not a traditional cookie, it’s not a traditional cake,” she said. “The number of cookies we had to make for each event just kept growing.”
It was a promising side venture. But when Lampe’s husband, Jeff, had a stroke in August of that year, her cookie hobby needed to become an occupation.
“It was dead serious. We had zero income outside what I made at the orthodontics office,” she said. “We were in danger of losing our home.”
By late 2023, customer orders were surging. Lampe was making 900 cookies for each event, outgrowing the kitchen at her home in the Northland.
So she booked time in a Kearney commercial kitchen for three months before relocating to her own space on North Oak Trafficway in late October. She baked 40 batches the first day.
Her 20 years in retail, including a decade with Tommy Hilfiger, was pivotal when it came to creating her own organization — from customer service to distinctive packaging.
The couple had operated as J&T Cookie Shop, but that name was more of a placeholder, Lampe said. At a Parkville, Missouri, event last summer, they kept hearing customers saying “Oh, my god,” and “OMG” after taking a first cookie bite.
“Something clicked. Our customers named us,” she said.
Oh My Gooey KC was born.
Lampe’s best friend, Mandy Smith, became her first employee, followed by Sierra Stawicki, a customer who just happened to ask if they had any openings.
Cake and cookie flavors include The Original; cinnamon surprise; key lime pie; red velvet stuffed Oreo; mint triple chocolate fudge; s’mores and more including the seasonal peppermint chill and Santa’s peppermint mocha. Cake sizes come in tinies, mini, small, medium and large.
Customers kept asking where they could find Lampe’s shop, she recalled. When the couple said they didn’t have one, their fans pushed them to open. The duo recently set retail hours at the bakery: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
The Upper Cut KC in Liberty also carries some of their cookies. An employee there praised the treats, saying they are a staff favorite.
Oh My Gooey KC’s next pop-up is set for noon to 6 p.m. April 26 at the cidery barn at KC Wine Co., at 13875 S. Gardner Road in Olathe.
Lampe is thankful for the support customers have shown through the past two years, she said.
“The St. Louisans being disbelievers. And the others, we get to introduce them. Their eyes light up,” she said. “It’s more than dessert, it’s about connections, making life’s everyday moments sweeter.”
This story was originally published by Startland News, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
