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.
