* Recipe by guest contributor Laney Schwartz, creator of Life is But a Dish
Well. It’s basically an out-of-this-world cake with a little oatmeal in it.
It’s. So. Good. And even better? The story behind the cake. Isn’t that part of what makes food so great? Where the recipe came from? Who made it? Your memory of when and why you used to eat it? I love that stuff.
One of my favorite parts of having a food blog, besides the eating of all the food, is how many people come to me with requests, questions, and of course, old favorite recipes that “you MUST try!” Well, if I must! This oatmeal cake recipe came to me from a family member. I won’t get into the whole complicated who’s who in my family tree, because we would be here all day!
She sent me an email with a brief history of how this cake played a role in her life, attached with the recipe. I immediately went home, luckily had all the ingredients, and made the cake that day. And I’ve made it twice since then. It’s really that good.
The email said…
“The first time I tasted this recipe was 44 years ago. I lived in a building with a great group of women and all of our husbands were doing their internship or residence at Presbyterian St Luke’s Hospital in Chicago. We all had young children and would get together in the morning so we had some social time. One of the women baked this cake and I fell in love. She served it warm with a little bit of whipped cream OMG. I thought you might want to try it and if you do please make sure you have me over for a taste.”
And OMG is right! I didn’t even serve it with the whipped cream, it was perfectly delicious on its own.
Can’t you just picture this bunch of women, who at the time were about my current age, kids running around, and snacking on this cake? What a great memory!
I made a few minor tweaks to make the cake a version of my own, and while it’s light and moist (I’ll never get over this word), it certainly does not lack in decadence. Oh, that crisp, walnut, coconutty topping makes me salivate just thinking about it. I’m far from a coconut person, but here it works! Trust me.
Click through for the full recipe: Oatmeal Cake
And Enjoy!
You can thank me later.
