Remember when you
were a little kid, and you went to elementary school for the first time? The
building looked tremendously huge, the halls as wide as a football field, the
teachers freakishly tall. And then, when you got older and revisited that
school it looked rather small and underwhelming. I'm having similar feelings
about this cake.
I found the recipe on the wonderful Chef-in-Training blog, and was immediately transported back to my youth and my mother baking an oatmeal cake. I would watch that coconut-and-pecan-laden top bubble up and brown under the broiler, and could not wait for it to cool off enough for me to pop a small bit into my mouth. Crunchy and chewy, and warm from the oven, it was 6-year-old bliss. But times change, tastes change, buildings crumble, teachers get smaller, and cakes don't seem quite as luscious as they once did. Don't get me wrong, this is a good cake. It is moist and dense, and topped with a delicious, chewy, coconut and pecan topping that I could easily eat all by itself. In fact, the next time I make it (and I will), I may just double this topping. The recipe called for a 9” x 13” pan, but I used a 10” x 10” as I always do in such cases; the cake would have been way too thin, the topping far too sparse for this to be as good as it was. But it didn't quite transport me back to my youth as I had hoped it would. Personally, I think this cake is just dynamite with a cup of coffee at breakfast. It is not exceptionally sweet, so makes the perfect breakfast treat. As for dessert after dinner, well, I'm still searching for that one. Oh, how I miss my momma!
I found the recipe on the wonderful Chef-in-Training blog, and was immediately transported back to my youth and my mother baking an oatmeal cake. I would watch that coconut-and-pecan-laden top bubble up and brown under the broiler, and could not wait for it to cool off enough for me to pop a small bit into my mouth. Crunchy and chewy, and warm from the oven, it was 6-year-old bliss. But times change, tastes change, buildings crumble, teachers get smaller, and cakes don't seem quite as luscious as they once did. Don't get me wrong, this is a good cake. It is moist and dense, and topped with a delicious, chewy, coconut and pecan topping that I could easily eat all by itself. In fact, the next time I make it (and I will), I may just double this topping. The recipe called for a 9” x 13” pan, but I used a 10” x 10” as I always do in such cases; the cake would have been way too thin, the topping far too sparse for this to be as good as it was. But it didn't quite transport me back to my youth as I had hoped it would. Personally, I think this cake is just dynamite with a cup of coffee at breakfast. It is not exceptionally sweet, so makes the perfect breakfast treat. As for dessert after dinner, well, I'm still searching for that one. Oh, how I miss my momma!
Oatmeal Cake
CAKE
1¼ cups water
½ cup butter
1 cup quick oats
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1⅓ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking
soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1½ teaspoon cinnamon
TOPPING
6 Tablespoons
butter, softened
½ cup sugar
¼ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup shredded
sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350ยบF.
Spray a 9x13-inch
baking pan (or a 10x10-inch, as I did) with cooking spray and set aside.
In small saucepan,
bring water and butter to a boil. Once boiling is reached, carefully pour
mixture into a large mixing bowl; add oats and let cool for 3 minutes. Into the
partially cooled mixture, beat in sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until well blended.
Add flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix until combined. Pour
into prepared baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
While baking, make the
topping. Cream butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl. Add
evaporated milk, vanilla, coconut, and nuts, and mix until well combined. After
cake has baked, spread topping quickly, but carefully over the top of the hot
cake, spreading to the edges and into the corners. Place under a broiler for
about 2-3* minutes until golden brown. Watch constantly so as not
to burn.
*This took me closer
to 4-5 minutes. It really all depends
upon just how close the cake is to the source of heat, so do watch it
carefully, but do not underbroil.
This post is linked to:
