Oatmeal Cake

Brian loves pastries. Mostly, he loves cookies and cakes. When we first were married, my mother-in-law passed on his (then) favorite cake recipe, which she titled, "Brian's Cake". Since then, he has another favorite. Oatmeal cake. It is a recipe from this little mom and pop restaurant in Wisconsin called The Norske Nook. They have a cookbook that I bought for my sister one year. This recipe was in it. I hope you enjoy it.

Oatmeal Cake

1 1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup old fashioned oats (NOT quick oats)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick butter (not margarine) softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts, but pecans are great, too)
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350. Pour boiling water over oats and let stand for 10 minutes. Cream together butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs. Add soaked oats, flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. Beat well. Pour into buttered 9X13 pan and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Mix together topping ingredients until crumbly. You need to use your fingers for this. It isn't really crumbly, sort of ends up gooey. Put on top of warm cake. Broil about 5 minutes until bubbly. Watch this part carefully. It burns quickly.

We love it served warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy.