Classic St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake vs Maritozzi con la Panna (Sweet Buns with Cream)

Both desserts lean on butter, eggs, milk and sugar, but put them to very different work. The gooey butter cake presses a buttery flour base into the pan and pours over it a rich topping of cream cheese, four cups of powdered sugar and melted butter, baked until the edges turn golden while the center stays soft and gooey. Maritozzi knead those staples into an orange-zested yeasted dough, proofed twice and baked into golden buns, then split and filled with cold cream whipped with a little powdered sugar and vanilla. One is dense, tangy-sweet and sticky; the other airy, bready and cool with fresh cream.