Oatmeal Cake

As requested, here is the favorite oatmeal cake that Peter was served for his birthday.  My sister Cheryl is the one who first introduced this recipe to me but it is originally from The Nourished Kitchen.  It is helpful to read through the comments because just like us everyone has their own way of preparing it.  

To start you need a large non-metal bowl.  I use a 1 1/2 lb box of steel cut oats (I bought a few cases when they were on sale - great deal with the addition of the case discount).  The original recipe calls for just 1 lb. but I make a smaller cake without eggs for Henry and George so I use the whole box.

Dump in the oats and cover with filtered water.  Add a bit (I don't know just dump some in) of buttermilk and a dash of salt, cover and soak overnight for 8 - 12 hours.  I've also soaked completely in buttermilk before and it makes it very soft and rich, but that is only when I have a lot of buttermilk on hand.

In the morning the oats should be a bit soft.  Strain them and maybe find something good to do with the discarded water?  I tried it on my plants, thought to serve it to my dog and really want to put it in my hair - just not last Sunday though because I was too busy preparing a lesson and Sunday mornings before church are not a good time to experiment with hair (learned that from using Coconut oil as conditioner once).  

Please note: on the occasion that I soaked solely in buttermilk I found most had been absorbed so there is no need for straining and not as much milk was needed.  

Now add in the ingredients (remember I started with 1 1/2 lbs oats unlike the original which calls for 1 lb.):

3 cups milk

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup coconut oil (this is solid so you can mash it a bit but it does bake in nicely)

1/4 cup applesauce (I add this for texture since a portion will not have eggs)

If the batter seems too watery I'll toss in a bit of rice or millet flour (we are mostly gluten free)

If the batter is too solid I'll add a bit more applesauce or milk

From here I'll take a portion of the batter and pour it into a greased bread pan for Henry and George.

For the rest I mix up 6 eggs (or less if I don't have that many on hand) and 2 Tbs. cinnamon.  Slosh it all together and pour into a greased cake pan.

It takes at least 45 minutes to bake at 375, sometimes more, sometimes less all depending on what I felt like dumping in or what I actually had on hand.  But again I recommend skimming through the 99 comments on The Nourished Kitchen because I'm not the only one getting sloppy with this recipe - and I'm not the only one finding it delicious no matter what the variation.

The one complaint I've heard was the oats being too crunchy - maybe I didn't soak them long enough?  or not enough liquid.  

On the Sunday morning that this was photographed it is a little over cooked because I was busy preparing a lesson and did not hear the oven timer.  It was still good enough to eat and lucky for us we had some leftover whipped cream, usually we just top it with plain yogurt.

Digging in

And done!  The original recipe suggest 12 - 16 servings, there are 9 of us and I added an additional half so I guess we're eating more than we should.  But paired with a kale/berry smoothie it is good for you and an especially great filler before church.  

Just a little added warning though, this could also be called "clean-out cake" because it really gets digestion moving, but that is also a good thing.

Anyone want the egg-free, brown rice, millet, ginger muffins from George's birthday?  Probably not and I don't blame you!