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Home / All Recipes / Course / Dessert / Cakes & Cupcakes

Oatmeal Cake

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
58
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This old-fashioned Oatmeal Cake might not win any beauty awards, but one bite and it will instantly become a family favorite!

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Any recipe with oats is a hit at our house – including these Oatmeal Raisin Muffins and these Oatmeal Cookies.

Slice of Oatmeal Cake on a plate with a fork.

If you’ve been a reader here at Taste and Tell for awhile, you’ll probably know that I’m a fan of the old-fashioned, under-appreciated recipes.

The ones that may not look like much, but have a permanent spot in your recipe book. And the ones that most likely could be found in your grandmother’s recipe book.

This Oatmeal Cake definitely fits the bill.

This is one of those cakes that has been passed down through the generations. It’s not trendy or beautiful – but one bite and you’ll be hooked.

Believe me – it’s hard to stop at one slice!

Ingredients needed to make an Oatmeal Cake.

Ingredients

  • Water: You will need to soak the oats in water before adding them. Using warm water helps the oats to soften faster, and the excess liquid goes into the cake helping to keep it nice and moist.
  • Oats: I have only tested this recipe with old fashioned oats. I would guess that quick oats would work, but I have not personally tried them.
  • Sugar: You need both brown sugar and granulated sugar. The brown sugar goes into both the cake and the topping.
  • Butter: I like to use unsalted butter so that I can better control the amount of salt. You’ll need softened butter for the cake, and then more butter for the topping.
  • Eggs: Use large eggs, and bring them to room temperature for the best results.
  • Flour: I have only tested this recipe personally with all-purpose flour, but have had readers make the cake successfully with gluten-free flour.
  • Cinnamon: The cake doesn’t have a strong cinnamon flavor, but it is the perfect background flavor.
  • Baking Soda: This will give the cake it’s lift and texture.
  • Salt: The salt will balance the flavors.
  • Milk: You just need a little bit of milk for the topping. I use 2%, but you could easily use whatever you have on hand, including non-dairy milk.
  • Coconut: I use sweetened, shredded coconut for the topping. You could also use unsweetened coconut to make it a little less sweet.
Soaking oats and staring cake batter.

How to Make Oatmeal Cake

STEP 1: Soak the oats in the warm water while you are preparing the batter.

STEP 2: Combine the butter and both sugars in a large bowl and cream until fully combined. Then add in the eggs and beat again until smooth.

Mixing dry ingredients and stirring all ingredients together.

STEP 3: Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. You want to make sure these are fully combined.

STEP 4: Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix. Then add the soaked oatmeal and stir. Finally, mix in the remaining flour mixture. Stir this all together until fully combined.

Adding batter to a pan and starting coconut topping for oatmeal cake.

STEP 5: Add the batter to a cake pan that has been greased. Bake the cake until a tester inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs.

STEP 6: To make the topping, combine the butter, brown sugar, and milk in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Boil this for 1 minute.

Making coconut topping and adding it to the top of an oatmeal cake.

STEP 7: Stir in the coconut.

STEP 8: Pour the mixture over the top of the baked cake. Place the cake under the broiler and broil for 1 minute. The topping will harden up just a bit. Let the cake cool before serving.

Oatmeal Cake Video

If you want to see how this cake is made, check out the video above.

Oatmeal Cake with a forkful taken from it.

Tips and Tricks

Don’t love coconut? Many readers have used nuts instead of coconut.

A few readers have also skipped the topping and added a cream cheese frosting instead.

This cake will last few days, stored covered in the refrigerator. That is – as long as it isn’t eater faster than that!

Many readers have also said that they don’t cook the topping, but just mix it all together well and broil it for a minute or two.

Slice of oatmeal cake on a plate with a bite taken from it.

More Easy Family Favorite Cakes

Pumpkin Pie Cake
Cinnamon Roll Sheet Cake
Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Oatmeal Cake with a forkful taken from it.

Oatmeal Cake

4.88 from 58 votes
Author: Deborah Harroun
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Print Pin
This old-fashioned oatmeal cake might not win any beauty awards, but one bite and it will instantly become a family favorite!

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups hot water
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 cup coconut

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Combine the water and the oatmeal and allow to soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  • Cream together the butter and both sugars. Beat in the eggs. In another bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add half of the flour to the creamed butter mixture, followed by the soaked oatmeal, then the remaining flour, mixing between additions. Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake until set, 35-40 minutes.
  • For the topping, turn the oven to broil. Combine the butter, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, while stirring. Boil for one minute. Stir in the coconut. Pour over the cake, spread, then broil for one minute.

Video

Recipe Notes:

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should be used as a general guide.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 362kcal (18%), Carbohydrates: 54g (18%), Protein: 3g (6%), Fat: 15g (23%), Saturated Fat: 10g (63%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 56mg (19%), Sodium: 266mg (12%), Fiber: 1g (4%), Sugar: 42g (47%)
Keywords: cake recipe, oatmeal, old fashioned

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Comments

  2. todd says

    you didnt specify but i surmise your drain the excess water off the soaking oats before you add them to the cake batter?

    Reply

    • blp59rn says

      My recipe calls for 1 and 1/4 cup of boiling water poured over the old fashioned oats and let sit for 20 minutes. There is no excess water then. My recipe for the topping calls for 1 cup of chopped pecans as well and you don’t cook the butter and sugar. You cream the ingredients and mix in the coconut and pecans. Put on top of the cake while warm from the oven and broil until it just starts to brown. This is a family favorite of ours and goes over very well at church functions.

      Reply

  9. Deanna says

    My family also has a recipe for Oatmeal Cake, which is nearly identical to yours! The only difference is that instead of coconut in the topping, we use walnuts. It is delicious!!

    Reply

  10. Sissy Sproles says

    My grandmother used to make a cake similar to this called “Mrs. Field’s Cake”. It was my favorite! Instead of oatmeal it had applesauce in it but the topping was like on this cake. I don’t remember it being grainy. Here it is – 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 1 can of coconut, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. of vanilla. The directions were simple – Cream to moisten. When cake is done, spread topping and put back in broiler to brown. And she added – “Don’t burn”. It wasn’t cooked at all. Hope this helps!

    Reply

    • Linda says

      5 stars
      I have made this cake for years, Lazy Dazy Cake. You don’t need to cook the topping at all, as lady above says. You have to watch it under the broiler or icing will burn fast, it turns out delicious. Love your other recipes.

      Reply

  12. Cheryl says

    I found this recipe in a journal many many years ago. Only difference was it called for leftover breakfast oatmeal. Such a wonderful cake and it used leftovers! When you bake it the whole house smells good.

    Reply

  14. Sharon says

    This was my birthday request cake, every year. Ours has pecan pieces in the icing. Try it, it’s AWSOME. Still love this cake. If you don’t want to make the cake from scratch, you can use a german chocolate cake mix, and it taste great also. Thanks for the reminder, on how delicious this recipe is. Sharon

    Reply

    • Cynthia says

      5 stars
      I am 58 years old. As a child this is the cake I always requested for my birthday. The only difference is ours always had pecans included in the coconut topping.

      Reply