This Old-fashioned Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Topping called out to me because I love simple, no fuss cakes that can be thrown together quickly and aren’t overly sweet. But more than the cake, I love the headnote Tasty Kitchen member Brandi N wrote. She found the hand-written recipe for this cake in her grandmother’s old tin recipe box and said the cake was “oozing with memories” for her. When I read something like that, I know it’s gotta be good.
This cake is delicious. It’s fluffy and moist, and the broiled topping makes it taste like a cinnamon roll. It’s the perfect partner for late-afternoon coffee or tea. Plus if it has oatmeal in it, it’s has to be kind of healthy, right?
You’ll need quick rolled oats, white sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, heavy whipping cream (or half and half), coconut, and pecans.
Start by combining quick-cooking oats with the boiling water. (Tip: If you don’t have quick cooking oats, simply food process old-fashioned rolled oats for a few seconds.)
Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13-by 9-inch pan with vegetable cooking spray and flour.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl beat the two sugars and butter until light and fluffy.
And then the eggs one at a time.
Beat in the vanilla …
Mix in the oatmeal …
Then finally add in the flour mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.
While the cake bakes, beat the remaining brown sugar and butter in a medium bowl.
Beat in the cream (or half-and-half) until smooth.
Stir in coconut and pecans.
When the cake comes out of the oven, top it with this mixture.
We found it helpful to spoon the topping evenly over the cake …
And then spread it to cover.
Broil the iced cake 4 to 6 inches from heating element until bubbly and light golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Give it a little cooling time (if you can!), then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Thank you, Brandi N, for sharing your grandmother’s recipe with us!
One thing is certain: Brandi’s grandmother knew how to make a good cake. While we have access to more ingredients, techniques, tools (and the internet!), a lot of things were just better back then. This recipe makes me want to pick up the phone and call my own grandmother and ask her for her favorite cake recipe. But I already know what she’ll say. I’ll share that recipe here with you soon.
What were your grandmother’s favorite recipes?
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Description
While going through my grandmother’s old tin box of recipes I came across this old favorite, handwritten by her, and oozing with memories. It’s an oatmeal cake with a brown sugar flavor and the top is a gooey carmelized frosting with coconut and pecans. Delightfully old-fashioned.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1-½ cup Quick Cooking Rolled Oats
- 1-¼ cup Boiling Water
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
- ½ cups Butter, Softened
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 3 whole Eggs
- 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- _____
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- ⅔ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
- ¼ cups Butter, Melted
- ¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream Or Half-And-Half
- 1 cup Coconut
- 1 cup Chopped Pecans Or Your Choice Of Nuts
Preparation Instructions
In small bowl, combine rolled oats and boiling water; let stand 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13×9-inch pan.
In a large bowl, combine the sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add oatmeal and all the remaining cake ingredients; mix well.
Pour batter into the greased and floured pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the topping, in small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter and whipping cream or half-and-half. Beat at high speed until smooth. Stir in coconut and nuts. Spoon over warm cake; spread to cover.
Broil 4–6 inches from heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbly and light golden brown. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.
_______________________________________
Three Many Cooks is the always-entertaining food blog of Pam Anderson and her two daughters, Maggy and Sharon. Pam is a well-known and much-respected food writer and author, Maggy is a “hippy adventurer meets 1950s housewife,” and Sharon refers to herself as a recovering food snob learning to survive on a graduate student’s budget. Theirs is a strong relationship both inside and outside the kitchen, and it shows in the food they create and the stories they tell.
99 Comments
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Janice Rudloff on 4.27.2011
This sounds so good! Think I better get busy making one. Thanks for the recipe :))
Jan
westmonster on 4.27.2011
Loving all the stories about grandmothers and their baking! What reminds me most of my mom’s mother – food-wise – is instant pudding, the non-cook-kind. My dad’s mom baked black forest cakes and “frankfurter kranz” (soft cake layers filled with buttercream and coated with hazelnut brittle) like nobody’s business, though. Nowadays she’s also more of a non-cook-instant-pudding type of gal.
kathy on 4.27.2011
Yes-in-deedy…this is “zactly” the same cake my mom made in the ’60’s also! I’m so glad you posted it, as I had kind of forgotten about it. I’ll be making it soon!
Amy | She Wears Many Hats on 4.27.2011
Dear me this looks divine. I could totally see making this on a regular basis and it being a crowd pleaser every time.
Kelly H. on 4.27.2011
As for the broiled topping, you could try toasting the coconut and pecans in a pan on top of the stove. Then you could put them and the made up topping underneath the batter before you bake it. Kind of like Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I’ve done this with Velvet Crumb Cake before and it worked reasonably well. Just a thought.
AngAk on 4.27.2011
and for those with no broiler, I agree that just putting the cake back in the oven to melt the icing a bit would work just fine—it won’t be slightly crunchy, but it will be good nonetheless, or just cook it on the stovetop to melt the sugar and butter together. Or, make a German Chocolate Cake topping, which is very similar to this.
AngAk on 4.27.2011
My “Oma” made traditional German Mennonite and Russian dishes like Vareneki and Zwieback and special cookies for Christmas, but her “American” specialty became Toll House Cookies to which she added Nesle Quik for a chocolaty dough. fond memory.
Kara Joy on 4.27.2011
This is almost identical to my mom’s beloved oatmeal cake recipe. I just made it last week when the weather was cold and I wanted some familiar comfort.
The only difference is that we don’t use cream, but milk for the topping, and it’s heated (and, thereby, thickened) in a saucepan before topping, rather than being broiled. I might try this method next time!
I want to ask my mom where she got this recipe: I wonder if it was inherited from her grandmother, like so many of her dessert recipes are.
ohguardwife on 4.27.2011
To answer your question ~ my grandma’s favorite recipe was for Nestle Toll House Cookies!! and she made awesome noodles! I have fond memories of being in her kitchen baking cookies every Monday!! I swear one of my cousins could smell them in the oven from his house, because he always managed to show up just as I was taking them off the cookie sheet!!!
She also taught me and my sister how to make noodles. We helped her make them for Thanksgiving, Christmas and our church’s food stand. She didn’t have a written recipe and neither do my sister or I. We have a bowl she gave each of us and we just go from there! Grandma’s been gone for 11 years now ~ but the smell of chocolate chip cookies surrounds me with her love 
georgiapellegrini on 4.27.2011
There’s nothing like a recipe from a Grandma. Finding those scraps of paper is like gold to me.
Katrina on 4.27.2011
You know this has got to be good! I love that it is an old recipe card recipe! My favorite “Grandma recipe” is butterscotch pie. Mmmm.
ohguardwife on 4.27.2011
My mom has a similar recipe ~ it’s my sister’s favorite so it’s now made for her birthday! Mom used to send this cake to Dad when he was stationed in Germany in the early 70’s. He said it didn’t last 15 minutes ~ when his buddies saw the box from home ~ they knew what was inside!! Mom & I have made this cake and sent it to my hubby while deployed to Iraq and going to school in Maryland! Thanks for sharing such a beloved (at least to my family) recipe!!
Susan Marie on 4.27.2011
The school food service where I once worked as manager makes this cake every year for the Thanksgiving meal – only we called it Holiday Cake, so the kiddos wouldn’t know they were eating oatmeal! We didn’t have broilers to pop the cakes under, either – so Hillary and latte – we just put the iced cakes back in the oven for a few minutes, until the sugar melted. It still tastes great!!
Bonnie from Louisiana on 4.27.2011
I’v been sitting here trying to remember sweets that my grandmother made.. My mind is drawing a blank.. My mom and I were both pretty good bakers, but she made fantastic FOOD… maybe she left the sweets up to us. My favorite of hers was her peroggi’s… home made noodle dough and fillings (sauerkraut, potato and cheese and the best – prune!), not belly bombers. so light, they would float off the plate.. chicken pot pie to die for.. the worlds best and most tender beef (calf) liver and onions, pork and sauerkraut… all- day-long slow cooked spagetti sauce.. oh lord.. all those staples of my childhood, comfort foods. I miss ya like crazy Baba….
Carolyn on 4.27.2011
My grandmother used to make oatmeal cake and it was my very favorite cake. When she passed in 1981 I got the receipe. I couldn’t bring myself to make it until last year. I just didn’t think in would be the same as grandma’s. I was very happy to find that is was every bit as good and now it is a favorite with my whole family. My husband loves to have a slice for breakfast with his coffee.
cici on 4.27.2011
My grandmother’s bread baking book and her cinnamon roll recipe. I remember this from my childhood – she would have a HUGE pan full of light, fluffy cinnamon rolls every time we were there!! YUM!!
Great memory!!!
Kitty on 4.27.2011
I just might have to make this today!
Cheryl on 4.27.2011
In a pinch, you can use evaporated milk in the frosting recipe. One of our family favorites also. My Grandma’s custard pie is my best memory.
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust on 4.27.2011
I love the sound of this cake. I’m going to have to find a reason to make it!
patimk on 4.27.2011
Oh how I wish I knew what my grandmother made. I never got to know either of them. This sounds like a wonderful recipe. Thanks.
Maryanne on 4.27.2011
My paternal grandmother was known for her beautiful birthday cakes she made all her grandchildren and her homemade fudge. I have tried her fudge recipe more then once and still can’t get it to come out as good as hers was. I can’t wait to make this cake, it looks like it will make an excellent breakfast cake!
Pam on 4.27.2011
My grandmother made these rolls that were awesome. We called her Mamaw and the name of the roll was just “Mamaw Bell’s rolls”. I have not been able to master them since my mother passed away in 2008. I am thinking she must have told me to add something that I didn’t write down, but I am on a mission to master these by Thanksgiving this year.
Hillary on 4.27.2011
Thanks Maggy, dulce de leche sounds like a yummy alternative & solution to no oven broiler.
EatLiveRun on 4.27.2011
This looks like something my great grandma would have made—love it!
Lisa S on 4.27.2011
This cake is a tradition in our family as well. Its excellent.
Beth P on 4.27.2011
Yum.. def. my favorite, my grandmother’s recipe is very similar, make one every year for myself for my birthday!!
strandjss on 4.27.2011
Oh Wow! I love cakes like this and I also love old well-used recipes. Great step by step and comments.
on 4.27.2011
I love this cake too. My grandma would make it for me this winter, so I got home and said I would try it. The first was awesome. The second was a complete flat failure. It looked like baked oatmeal. I had forgotten the soda.
Frieda Loves Bread on 4.27.2011
This is a VERY good cake! The crispy, crunchy, sweet topping makes the cake….literally! My favorite recipe of my grandmother’s was her caramel dumplings. It’s comfort food at its best!
Lisa L on 4.27.2011
My mom makes a Fruit Cocktail Cake with Broiled Icing. It’s moist and fruity and has almost the same broiled icing with the coconut and pecans!! Might just have to make one this weekend!! hmmmm that and the Oatmeal cake!! ahhahahah
kitchen-concoctions on 4.27.2011
Mmmm! This cake looks delicious! There are so many things that I make today that I remember my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mom making. These are some of my absolute favorite recipes!
Jenn Oates on 4.27.2011
I feel very deprived, as my grandmother wasn’t much of a cook and have no heirloom recipes from either side of my family.
Good thing I can make other people’s heirloom recipes!
Natalie | Perry's Plate on 4.27.2011
This cake IS good. I know because I have almost the identical recipe in my TK box… also from my grandma. (Measurements are slightly different and it’s baked in a tube pan.) How funny… I wonder if grandmas had some underground cookbook they all baked from and it somehow got lost over the years.
latte on 4.27.2011
I’ve the same question as Hillary.
What if you don’t have an oven broiler? What would be a doable alternative for the icing? Please can someone help. Many thanks inadvance.
Lauren at Keep It Sweet on 4.27.2011
I love this cake! I’d definitely use the oatmeal as an excuse to have an extra large serving:-)
Maggy on 4.27.2011
Hillary, if you wanted to make something similar you could make a thick dulce de leche topping and stir in the coconut and nuts. But really, any other icing would be delicious on this cake.
Hillary on 4.27.2011
What if you don’t have an oven broiler? What would be a doable alternative for the icing? Thanks.
Maine Mom on 4.27.2011
Oh Yes! This is one of our birthday standards for a sheet cake! The broiled icing is probably one of the most “food stuck” pages in our Joy of Cooking, where we frequent this cakes two recipes. This year, for DH’s birthday on St Pattys day, I included some green cookie sugar in the broiled icing to make it green.
Kelly H. on 4.27.2011
Reminds me of the Bisquick Rice & Gravy (Velvet Crumb) cake that we have made in my family for years. My granddaddy always called it Rice & Gravy cake because the broiled topping looked like rice and gravy to him. : ) Yummy!
Maria on 4.27.2011
Love this cake!
NanaBread on 4.27.2011
My mother-in-law has made this cake for many years. She was kind enough to share the recipe with me when I married her son. It’s a family favorite, for sure. It’s just yummy. Especially with that broiled topping.
Kathy on 4.27.2011
The pictures and descriptions make me so hungry!!!
Nancy on 4.27.2011
My grandma made a raisin nut cake that was to die for . . . it was moist and yummy and although I have her recipe, mine always comes out drier than I remember hers being.
soufflebombay on 4.27.2011
Really interesting, never had an oatmeal cake. Looks so good!!
You are so right about “back then” my grandmom, whio is 99, still cooks like a pro. She grew everything until just recently and really has never eaten processed foods unless she was eating out. She is famous for her pierogi and can cook anything – she always had a big pitcher of orange iced tea on her table when we would go to her home as well as an egg dip, cucumber dip or some other to encourage us “kids” to eat our veggies which I always did enjoy and should get the recipe for some of her dips – thanks for the reminder!
Linda Sue on 4.27.2011
a wonderful cake – only difference in my version is addition of freshly grated nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon in the cake – ultimate comfort cake and my dear departed MIL’s favorite!
Jessica @ How Sweet It Is on 4.27.2011
Love how oooey, gooey and moist this cake looks!
Mandy on 4.27.2011
I’ll be trying this today! Made me remember the days I spent in my Grandma’s kitchen baking with her. I can still smell it!! Thank you for sharing!
JudyB on 4.27.2011
Looks just like the cake my mom made in the 60’s. Yum.
Heather (Heather's Dish) on 4.27.2011
i LOVE oatmeal cake! i actually got my great-aunt’s recipe from her old collection in oklahoma in october…and i’ve made it about 4 times since. heavenly!