on Aug 09, 2019, Updated Apr 28, 2020 10 Comments This Park Avenue Bars recipe is an absolute wonder! My Grandmother would make these often when we were growing up, but would use a boxed cake mix. I decided to recreate her recipe with this easy to make homemade version that is made from scratch! I believe it is even better than her original and I love that I know every ingredient in it! These would make a great treat to make ahead and serve for a treat, snack or dessert! We love to have them as part of a dessert board along with brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and a few other favorite treats!
Park Avenue Bars Recipe
Park Avenue Bars is a rich, delicious dessert recipe made of a buttery cake base, chopped pecans that is then topped with a sweetened cream cheese topping that is then baked, cooled, and cut into individual bars for serving. Some use a packaged boxed cake mix for the cake base, but my recipe is made from scratch with a homemade cake layer instead.
How to Make Park Avenue Bars Recipe
To start, preheat the oven to 350º F. Lightly coat a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter and set aside. Totally optional, but I also like to line my baking dish with parchment paper, making sure to leave enough at the ends to allow me to easily lift the bars from the baking dish to cool and cut for serving. If you use the parchment, you will also want to lightly butter the parchment paper as well. Prepare the cake layer. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in one egg, the melted butter, and the vanilla extract. Beat until well combined. You can use an electric mixer to make this step even easier. Press the cake layer mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the pecans on top of the cake crust layer. Set aside while you prepare the sweetened cream cheese topping. For the topping, which absolutely makes these Park Avenue Bars, you’ll only need three ingredients. Powdered sugar, the remaining eggs, and cream cheese. Beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and the two eggs until well combined and smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the pecans and cake layer, making sure to spread it to the edges. Bake until the top is golden brown and the bars do not move when the baking dish is moved, about 45 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. Alternately, if you lined the baking dish with parchment paper, allow to cool for about 5 minutes in the baking dish and then carefully lift the edges of the parchment to remove the Park Avenue Bars from the baking dish to cool completely on a wire rack.
How to Store this Recipe
Once baked and cooled, keep the Park Avenue Bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Here’s my Park Avenue Bars Recipe. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Enjoy! Robyn xo
