Oatmeal Cake

This wonderful recipe is from my Southern Cakes cookbook. I adore that book! This is an oatmeal cake but I think it pretty much tastes like a spice cake. It's topped with a wonderful boiled icing that includes coconut and nuts. The recipe calls for pecans in the icing but all I had was walnuts, so that's what I used and it was delicious. You can make this recipe into a layer cake but I made mine into a snack cake. The only other change I made was I used pumpkin pie spice in place of the nutmeg. I couldn't imagine this cake not having cinnamon. Pumpkin pie spice was perfect. Not too overpowering. I thought that was a really good addition.

This cake is easy to make. The butter is melted with the boiling water and oatmeal so there is no whipping of sugar & butter together. You can pretty much do this whole recipe by hand. The icing comes together so quickly but takes a long time to cool. I guess I could have accelerated the cooling by placing it in the fridge but I just kept it on a rack and stirred every so often till it was room temperature. Besides, when the icing gets chilled, it looses it's glossiness and becomes a lot more firm - almost unspreadable. I bet this would make wonderful cupcakes as well. This cake is exceptionally moist and has so much flavor.
Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cake
from Southern Cakes
by Nancie McDermott

Ingredients
For the cake
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup butter, cut into 6 chunks
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1. In a medium bowl, combine the oatmeal, butter, and boiling water, and stir to mix them together a bit. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and generously grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans or one 13-by-9-inch pan.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, and stir with a fork to mix everything well. In a large bowl, combine both kinds of sugar with the eggs and vanilla, and beat with a mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes, until thick and light colored, stopping to scrape down the bowl when neccessary.

4. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture in 2 batches, beating just long enough each time to make the flour disappear. Mix in the oatmeal, stirring and folding to combine everything into a nubby but well-mixed batter.

5. Scrape into the prepared pans and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the center, and begin pulling away from the sides of the pans.

6. Cool in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towels for 10 minutes. If you have used round cake pans, carefully turn out the cakes onto wire racks, turn top side up, and finish cooling. Or cool the cake in the large rectangular pan.

Make the frosting
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, evaporated milk, and sugar, and place the pan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring now and then.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla, pecans, and coconut. Beat well with a wooden spoon, a whisk, or a mixer on low speed, until you have a thickened, cooled frosting. Spread it between the two layers and then on the top of the cake, or spread it over the top of the rectangular cake and serve it in squares, right from the pan.