Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Leftover Oatmeal becomes Spice Cake

Some breakfast foods are good leftover: muffins, for instance. Or pancakes (rolled up with butter and sugar--mmmmm.)

Some are not. Scrambled eggs. Oatmeal. When I was growing up, we had a lot of leftover oatmeal because it was never as popular as my mom thought it ought to be.

When leftovers occurred, I made this spice cake variant, which was always received with great enthusiasm:

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake
2 c. cooked oats
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2c. flour
1 t. soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
Bake in a 9" pan at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.
Frosting: mix 1/4 c. melted butter, 1/2 c. brown sugar, 3 T half and half (I always used evaporated milk), 1/3 c. nuts, 3/4 c. coconut. IIRC, you then broiled this briefly until it looked nice and toasty.

Now I have leftover oatmeal from time to time, not because I misjudge appetites, but because DOB sometimes runs out of time and doesn't eat his breakfast. So I fix this variant, updated for our household expenditure and nutrition standards. It tastes a lot like gingerbread:

Slightly Cheaper and Healthier Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake
2 c. cooked oats (with raisins)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. molasses
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. allspice (or however many spices I feel like dumping in until I get bored)

Bake as above. I skip the frosting and either serve it with applesauce for dessert or plain for breakfast.

3 comments:

Amy K said...

Ahh, but does the healthier, cheaper version taste as good? I've been amazed at how many people can make the same recipe but have the end-product turn out so different because they use slightly different ingredients. I'd rather eat less of something and have it be worthwhile. Note: I'm not saying that the healthier version here ISN'T tasty . . . just wondering if it's worth making it healthy. -Amy

Queen of Carrots said...

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by the healthier version. It's very moist and rich, an excellent gingerbread. Definitely different from the original, but equally good or better in its own way.

Queen of Carrots said...

P.S. I feel the same way about health food. For instance, I won't compromise on chocolate cake. No carob-honey concoctions for me. Gross. There are a surprising number of things where the healthy version is as good or better, though, so that's what we eat most of the time and then can occasionally indulge guilt-free.