Matt chose this oatmeal-coconut cake for his birthday. He told my mom about a cake he remembered his grandmother making growing up. My mom thought it sounded familiar and made this cake for his birthday one year which ended up being the cake he remembered. So this year he requested it again 🙂 I wasn’t terribly excited as I didn’t remember it being one of my favorites but it was HIS birthday after all. My mind has changed – this cake is awesome and was a big hit with Matt’s coworkers. My mom had this recipe from my Nanny and I asked my mom to come up with a name besides oatmeal-coconut cake–Thanks Mom!

Cake Ingredients
1 cup quick cook oatmeal
1 1/4 cups boiling water
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cake Instructions – Preheat oven to 350F
1. Combine oatmeal, boiling water, and butter; let stand 20 minutes
2. Add white sugar, brown sugar, and 2 eggs to oatmeal mixture
3. Combine, flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl.
4. Add flour mixture to oatmeal mixture.
5. Grease and flour 9×13 inch pan, pour mixture into pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350F

Topping Ingredients
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
14 ounce bag shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Topping instructions
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Spread on hot cake and put under broiler on the lowest setting for 3-4 minutes (turning after 2 minutes). You want to brown the coconut, be careful it will burn quickly!

Source: Helen Sakkis via the Tampa Tribune

Mangia!
Lindsay Lou