TimesLeader.com

October 22, 2008
A comfy oatmeal cake returns many warm memories of mom

By Josephine Campbell jcampbell@timesleader.com
Copy Editor

Being laid low by a bug is surely the best reason to long for your mother. With the 10th anniversary of her death approaching, I’d already been thinking about her quite a lot.

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The broiled frosting on this oatmeal cake tastes like coconut candy, but the cake’s delicious, too.

Ian CAMPBELL/for the times leader

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After two fevered, hazy days, I was hungry. I yearned for something she’d baked.

One of our family favorites was an oatmeal cake with a caramel-coconut topping. I recall many times watching Mom, bent before the oven window, poised to whip the cake out before the frosting began to burn.

The swoon-worthy sweet topper is cooked up while the cake bakes; the coconut mixture is quickly spread on the hot cake, then briefly broiled.

While Mom was watching the cake, numerous little fingers were reaching for the empty pot and spoon.

The warm oven air swirled about the kitchen, a waft of cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar.

The recipe she used was written down in her book, but virtually the same as one in “Cooking from Quilt Country” by Marcia Adams (Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1989), the companion to the 13-part PBS series “Amish Cooking from Quilt Country.” We used to watch the show together, Mom recalling many of the dishes from childhood. When I bought her the book, she got a kick out of reading about the Amish life, again much like her childhood on the farm.

As I read over the recipe last week, I chuckled at the instructions. I’m always struck by the fussy nature of recipes. Would a Mennonite woman, beating by hand, have time to first cream the butter, then beat until fluffy, adding one ingredient at a time? Would the Amish waste a perfectly good piece of waxed paper as a place to “set aside” the dry ingredients?

My Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, I’m sure, would agree neither would be practical or thrifty.

In my kitchen, two children who never knew Grandma Helen gave “her” cake the thumbs-up (though one did not like the frosting).

The recipe from the book follows. I had no walnuts and don’t remember Mom using them either, so I omitted them and used three cups of coconut.

I also heedlessly beat in wet ingredients, with no ill effects. Use a wet knife for cleaner cutting.

OATMEAL CAKE

Makes 12 large servings

1 cup one-minute quick oatmeal, uncooked

1  1/2 cups boiling water

1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 5-ounce can evaporated milk

8 ounces flaked coconut

1 cup chopped nuts, either pecans or English walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Speck of salt

Place the oats in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let stand 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt on wax paper. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the vanilla and gradually add the sugars, beating until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the oatmeal mixture and blend. Add the flour mixture and blend again.

Pour batter into an oiled 13-by-8-inch baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when touched with your fingertip.

While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the brown sugar and cook until the mixture bubbles up. Add the milk, and bring again to a boil.

Remove from the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.

Spread the hot frosting on the hot cake as soon as the cake is done. Turn the oven up to broil and broil the cake about six inches from the heat for two minutes, or until the frosting bubbles all over the cake.

Let cool before cutting.