Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake

Love desserts? Then this Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake is just what you need. Delicious flavors collide making this easy, tasty and perfect for any time of the year.

I’m a huge cake fan, always have been and always will be. There is no time that I will turn down a cake, it is my favorite dessert pretty much out of all of them.

This Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake has always been one of my favorites. This recipe comes from my grandmas old hand written recipes, those are some of the best recipes I’ve ever found.

I grew up with this cake, having it passed down from generation to generation has been a blessing and we just can’t get enough of it. It is just that good.

Over the years I have doctored it up, mostly just the frosting. I’m a huge frosting person and I wanted to give this Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake a little flair of my own. 

So we love to serve this with my Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting which is literally the perfect combination to the flavors that are inside this cake!

One bite and you’ll be hooked! Some of our other favorite cake recipes we have on our site include Italian Cream Cake, Easy Banana Cake and Texas Sheet Cake.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

• Easy pantry staple ingredients helps this come together quickly.
• You can frost with whatever frosting that you’d like.
• This has a nice sweet flavor that plays off the oatmeal perfectly.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):

Old fashioned rolled oats
Boiling water
All-purpose flour
Baking soda
Baking powder
Cinnamon
Salt
Granulated sugar
Brown sugar
Unsalted butter
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Cream cheese
Powdered sugar

HOW TO MAKE AN OATMEAL CAKE, STEP BY STEP:

1. Place the oatmeal into a medium-sized heat-proof bowl. Pour the boiling water on top of the oats and let it sit until it comes down to room temperature, about 90 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with baking spray, set aside. Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized bowl, set aside.
3. Add the sugar, brown sugar, and butter into a large bowl and mix until combined with an electric hand mixer. 
4. Add the cooled oatmeal and mix until combined.
5.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mix until combined, scrape down the sides. 
6. Add the flour mixture to the wet and stir it in just until combined. 
7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the baking dish on a wire rack to cool completely.
8. While the cake cools, make the frosting by placing the cream cheese and the butter in a large bowl and whip it with an electric hand mixer until smooth. 
9. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully combined. 
10. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and mix it in, whip for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
11. Once the cake is cooled completely, smooth the frosting on top and serve.

See how easy this is? I mean they really knew what they were doing back in the day when they made this Oatmeal Cake, it is so so so addictive that I can’t stop making it.

The Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting is really the perfect addition and literally the icing on top of the cake as they would say.

DO I HAVE TO USE CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING?

No you do not, you can use any kind of frosting that you like, even if you want to make it easier you can use a frosting from a can.

A traditional topping for this cake would be a Broiled Nut Topping which is good, but we found that our family really likes a different frosting.

We do make both from time to time, depending on who we are serving, if we are serving friends we absolutely go with the Cream Cheese version, family we go back to the broiled topping as that is what they know.

It is really your choice what you will think would work great with this Oatmeal Cake! So I will let the decision be up to you but just trust me on the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting!

CAN I USE QUICK COOKING OATS?

Yes you can, it will give it a different texture. You will still need to pour boiling water over the quick cooking oats but they should only need to sit for about 20 minutes.

Since quick cooking oats are smaller and have a different texture than rolled oats they will take less time to soak up that liquid and will like I said give your cake a different texture.

We have tried this both ways in this Oatmeal Cake Recipe and we do like both but we like to stick with the traditional version that the hand written recipe calls for and that is the rolled oats.

HOW TO STORE OATMEAL CAKE:

Since this Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake has cream cheese frosting it does need to be refrigerated. This can be kept in the pan itself, or removed to an airtight container where it will keep up to 3-4 days.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAKING OATMEAL CAKE:

• Yes you really do have to let the oats sit for 90 minutes, we really want to get them as soft as possible so they are blended into the cake nicely.
• This cake is very moist yet slightly crumbly from the addition of the oats. The oats give a slight chew that adds more texture than a regular cake.
• The cream cheese frosting is addictive and the cinnamon in it is the perfect accompaniment to the oatmeal cake.
• You can use any frosting that you like, I have linked a traditional frosting for Oatmeal Cake above.
• I suggest allowing the cake to come back to room temperature before serving leftovers. The cake is moister at room temperature.
• You can use quick cooking oats, see my tips above on how to do that.

If you want that perfect oldie but goodie then you have to whip up this Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake, you will not be disappointed.

If you like this recipe you might also like:

• Oatmeal Cream Pies
• Tomato Soup Cake
• Grandma’s Butterscotch Oatmeal Crinkle Cookies

If you’ve tried this OLD-FASHIONED OATMEAL CAKE or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake

Love desserts? Then this Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake is just what you need. Delicious flavors collide making this easy, tasty and perfect for any time of the year.

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cool: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 15

Calories: 375kcal

Author: Tornadough Alli

Ingredients

Cake:

• ▢ 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• ▢ 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ▢ pinch of fine sea salt
• ▢ 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

• ▢ 8 oz cream cheese softened
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• ▢ 2 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Place the oatmeal into a medium-sized heat-proof bowl. Pour the boiling water on top of the oats and let it sit until it comes down to room temperature, about 90 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray, set aside. Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized bowl, set aside.
• Add the sugar, brown sugar, and butter into a large bowl and mix until combined with an electric hand mixer.
• Add the cooled oatmeal and mix until combined.
• Add the eggs and vanilla, mix until combined, scrape down the sides.
• Add the flour mixture to the wet and stir it in just until combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the baking dish on a wire rack to cool completely.
• While the cake cools, make the frosting by placing the cream cheese and the butter in a large bowl and whip it with an electric hand mixer until smooth.
• Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully combined.
• Add the vanilla and cinnamon and mix it in, whip for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
• Once the cake is cooled completely, smooth the frosting on top and serve.

Notes

1. Yes you really do have to let the oats sit for 90 minutes, we really want to get them as soft as possible so they are blended into the cake nicely.
2. This cake is very moist yet slightly crumbly from the addition of the oats. The oats give a slight chew that adds more texture than a regular cake.
3. The cream cheese frosting is addictive and the cinnamon in it is the perfect accompaniment to the oatmeal cake.
4. You can use any frosting that you like, I have linked a traditional frosting for Oatmeal Cake above.
5. I suggest allowing the cake to come back to room temperature before serving leftovers. The cake is moister at room temperature.
6. You can use quick cooking oats, see my tips above on how to do that.

Nutrition

Calories: 375kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 137mg | Potassium: 95mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 614IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 1mg

Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.

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