HURRICANE OATMEAL CAKE

Island Born and Bred is a cookbook compiled by the Harkers Island United Methodist Women and was featured in the September 1998 edition of Good Housekeeping in their Cookbook Corner. (That's how I got the recipe. I tore the page out of my magazine and filed it away in a folder of "Recipes to Try".) Harkers Island is a tiny strip of land off the North Carolina coast. The 378 page cookbook contained not only more than 500 recipes but 99 pages discussing the history of the island. Proceeds from the sell of the cookbook went to benefit the community.

Good Housekeeping sampled one recipe in the cookbook .... Hurricane Oatmeal Cake. The cake stays moist and fresh for days and was labeled "good to have on hand for hurricane watches" but GH recommended it for any time.

I made it to share with the volunteers at Hillcrest on Tuesday. It whipped up quickly (with just my wooden spoon) and was very much enjoyed at Hillcrest. When I told them the story of the cake, Mark said he hoped it didn't stir up a hurricane.

HURRICANE OATMEAL CAKE

1          cup oatmeal (I used old fashioned oats)
1-1/4   cups boiling water
2         eggs
1          cup granulated sugar (I used 1/2 cup of sugar/stevia blend)
1          cup brown sugar
1/2      cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1-1/2   cups flour
1          teaspoon baking soda
1          teaspoon salt
1          teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING:

1          cup coconut
1          cup brown sugar
6         tablespoons melted margarine
1/2      cup chopped pecans
1/4      cup evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. I used my Pan Grease.

Combine oatmeal and boiling water; set aside. ( I heated the water in the microwave in a 4 cup glass measuring cup; added the oats; and set it aside while I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the cake.)

Beat together the eggs, sugars, and oil until blended. (I just used a wooden spoon.)

Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. 

Add to the egg mixture. (Mixture will be thick.)

Add the oatmeal mixture. (All of the water had been soaked up by the oats.)

(It was also thick, but thinned the batter when I stirred it in.)

Spread in baking pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes. (30 min was good in my oven).









A few minutes before the cake is ready to take out of the oven, start preparing the topping.

Melt the butter in the microwave and add all of the ingredients together for the topping.

When the cake is done, spread the topping over the cake to cover.

Set oven to broil, and return the cake to the oven and broil until topping is light brown and crunchy....about 2 minutes.