you're making mealtime meaningful.
Nostalgia comes at 4 o’clock in the afternoon when the golden late day sunlight still lingered and had not yet creeped behind the town’s buildings. It was a time just before plunging into the depths of homework where you’d pour milk dangerously to the lip of the glass and cut a large corner piece of snack cake, like this Oatmeal Cake.
Oatmeal Cake is the cake to have between to-dos and demands. A bite of this cake creates a prime time to stop between tasks and allows you to enjoy a sweet treat. A cinnamon and nutmeg spiced cake filled with rolled oats bakes up, exuding the flavors of a weekend morning. A quick brown sugar pecan coconut topping is spread on top of the just-baked cake and broiled until toasted.
The ingredients for a standard cake are all here, except for the milk, which means this cake is slightly sturdier and less airy than your average slice of cake.
You soak the oats in water and then let the oats rest for fifteen minutes.
In the meantime, you whisk your dry ingredients in one bowl and beat your sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla in another bowl.
When the wet and dry are combined, the batter has a smooth and silky texture.
Once the batter is formed, mix in the soaked oats.
Spread into the prepared baking dish and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs.
While the cake is baking, prepare the topping which is a mixture of melted butter, light brown sugar, milk, vanilla, shredded coconut, and chopped pecans. If you don’t want to add nuts to the topping, you can easily omit them. When the cake comes out of the oven, spread the prepared topping on top of the warm cake and put it back into the oven to bake on the broil setting. You don’t want to walk away from the oven during the broiling, as the topping can go from golden to gone in a matter of seconds.
After a thirty-minute rest, the Oatmeal Cake is ready to slice and serve! The cake is filled with earthy oats and laced with warm notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.
It has sweetness, but it’s not too sweet, making it a great cake for adults and kids alike.
The frosting holds up well, meaning you can transport this cake to an event with ease.
Since it’s baked in a 9×13-inch pan it’s meant to feed a crowd of many or a select few. This cake really encompasses many needs as a special treat for others or a simple dessert you whip up for yourself.
Oatmeal Cake
Yield(s): Serves 16
30m prep time
30m cook time
30m inactive
Diet: Vegetarian
you're making mealtime meaningful.
For the Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cups boiling water
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts (optional)
To make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13 cake pan with nonstick spray, set aside.
- In a bowl combine oats with boiling water. Let soak for 15 minutes.
- In another bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a large mixing bowl beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter on a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients until well combined. Add in oat mixture, beating until well combined.
- Spread evenly into the prepared baking pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, a toothpick inserted should come out with a few moist, not wet crumbs.
To make the topping:
- Remove cake from the oven and change the oven’s setting to broil.
- In a medium bowl, whisk butter, light brown sugar, milk, and vanilla. Stir in coconut and chopped nuts.
- Spread mixture over warm cake.
- Place under the broiler until the edges of coconut start to brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Cool cake for a minimum of 30 minutes before serving.
Recipe adapted from Preppy Kitchen.