Sharyn’s Pantry : BROILED-TOP COFFEE CAKE

This delightful octogenarian gave me her coffee cake recipe last week. Joan has such a wonderful sense of humour, I truly enjoy her visits to my store. Each Monday morning, she faithfully brings something that she has baked to share at the Senior’s meeting place. No matter what she bakes, it all is hastily devoured. Note that her cake to-day has no added butter or fat. I even telephoned her to see if she had forgotten to write down on her recipe some butter of margarine. It is kept moist with rolled oats. Even the broiled-top frosting has only 1 tbsp. of butter. I made her cake on Sunday afternoon and Gary and I are enjoying each bite. To-day, Tuesday as I am writing this column, the cake is just as moist as it was when baked Sunday. I know you will enjoy it too! Thanks Joan for caring and sharing!

BROILED-TOP COFFEE CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

IN A SMALL BOWL:

• 1- 1/4 cups of boiling water
• 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats

IN A LARGE BOWL:

• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed 1 tsp.
• pure vanilla 

IN A SMALLER BOWL:

• 1- 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 a level tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 a rounded tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 a level tsp. fine salt
• 1- 1/2 rounded tsp. ground cinnamon

BROILED TOPPING:

• 1 tbsp. soft butter
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar lightly packed
• 1- 1/3 cups sweetened angel flake or dessicated coconut
• 3/4 cup Carnation evaporated milk
• (I added to Joan’s recipe 1/3 cup pecan pieces)

METHOD: -First pour 1- 1/4 cups of boiling water into a small bowl. -Stir in the 1 cup or quick cooking rolled oats. – Set this aside and allow to stand for 20 minutes. -Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. F. You will use the 2nd oven shelf from the bottom to bake on. -Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking pan with no-stick spray and set aside. -In a large bowl, beat the 2 eggs until nice and light and fluffy. -Stir in the white and brown sugar and vanilla and mix well. -Whisk or sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder and salt and cinnamon in another small bowl. -Stir this into the sugar and egg mixture. Add in the cooled rolled oats and water and mix well to combine everything. -Spread the cake batter evenly into the prepared cake pan. -Bake the cake for exactly 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven. – TO CHECK FOR DONENESS:   The edges of the cake will pull away from the sides of the pan and the top of the cake will brown slightly. Gently press the top of the cake with your fingertip, if the cake springs back it is done. If there is still an indentation in the cake where your fingertip pressed down gently, bake the cake for a few minutes longer. You can also insert a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is baked. THE BROILED-TOP TOPPING: -Set your oven temperature to FULL BROIL. Position your oven rack to about 6″ below the broiler element. -In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients: – Mix the butter, brown sugar, coconut, carnation evaporated milk and pecan pieces together. -Spread this to evenly cover the top of the hot cake just out of the oven. -Place the cake on the oven rack positioned about 6″ below the broiler element. Allow the topping to broil for about 2 minutes. Crack open the oven door to prevent too much browning. Here’s what I did: After the 2 minutes. I turned off the broiler element and allowed the cake to stay in the same position on the oven rack for a minute longer. The residual heat helped brown the topping without scorching it. This cake is unbelieveably moist and tender and the topping is simply delicious! It is definitely ‘a keeper’.