Oatmeal-Raisin Snack Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
I tend to go in cycles with my favorite cookies… I’m always up for a good chocolate chip cookie, but I tend to have bursts of cravings for other flavors like oatmeal-raisin, snickerdoodles and peanut butter. I love chewy, nutty texture of oatmeal-raisin cookies and I’m almost able to convince myself that they’re healthy since… oats! This snack cake tastes like a hybrid of a frosted oatmeal-raisin cookie and my great aunt’s famous poor man’s cookies, which is actually a spiced snack cake with raisins and nuts, and topped a boiled frosting.
I’ve always been a huge fan of oatmeal since I was a kid, grabbing those maple brown sugar packets for breakfast from elementary school all the way through college and my first “real” job. Eventually, I started using plain oats and cooking them on the stove, adding in things like apples, raisins, dates, nuts, bananas, and whatever other add-ins I was hungry for on a particular day. I then transitioned to steel cut oats for the increased health benefits, but they do take some extra time to cook and I don’t find them nearly as convenient as the pouches or even the traditional rolled oats on the stovetop.
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When Quaker Oats contacted me and asked if I wanted to try their new quick-cooking 3-minute steel cut oats, I was thrilled to give them a try. Being able to make steel cut oats in three minutes versus the typical 30 minutes is awesome, especially since my days of leisurely breakfasts are on hiatus for the unforeseen future. They even have instant steel cut oats pouches in two different flavors – Brown Sugar & Cinnamon and Cranberries & Blueberries.
It didn’t take me long at all to throw these quick-cooking oats into a recipe that’s a hybrid of one of my favorite cookies and one of my favorite old family recipes.
Three years ago: Conch Fritters
Four years ago: Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Oatmeal-Raisin Snack Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1½ cups (375 ml) boiling water
- 1½ cups (217.5 g) raisins
- 1 cup (160 g) quick-cooking steel cut oats
- 1⅓ cups (166.67 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (220 g) light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, cold
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the boiling water, raisins and oats and let sit for 20 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs and vanilla extract, beating to combine. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the oat mixture, then gradually add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Give the mixture a final stir with a rubber spatula and transfer to the prepared baking pan.
- Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Place on a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
- Make the Cream Cheese Frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and salt, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Spread over the cooled cake and serve. Leftovers can be stored at room temperature, covered, for up to 4 days.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
My easy overnight ‘peaches, apricot and cream’ cold oatmeal! Peach yogurt, diced dried apricot and Quaker Quick 3-Minute Steel Cut Oats Original, grind some cinnamon on top, let soak in fridge overnight #QuakerUp #SweepsEntry – @Jennpup
Love oatmeal raisin cookies! They are my favorite, so this should be an interesting twist!
I would make oatmeal steel cut in glass jars overnight in the fridge and have my oatmeal fix with blueberries each day..If I remembered to fix it up the night before..It is simple and the oatmeal tastes like heaven on earth and no fuss and no mess in the mornings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My family loves oatmeal and our favorite recipe is the oatmeal raisin cookies.
This looks delicious! I’m going to have to try it this week.
We just had a new baby too recently and with guests coming over so often, this looks like a delicious and easy recipe to serve. Thanks! And anything with oats qualifies as eatable for breakfast too in my books (even if it is cake or cookies lol!) ;-)
The cake looks yummy I want to try to make it soon..Love oatmeal and eat it in everything…Would love to win the giveaway..Happy Passover & Happy Easter tooooo..It is so hot here in the pacific northwest the Tulips are bloomin very early and the daffy’s (daffodils) are nearly spent. we were up on Mt. Vernon and viewed it the tulips, daffys and some Iris plants are starting to peak thru the mud too..It was glorious but cool & tried to rain something we have had little of in the past 7 months! No snowpack either, the farmers, vintners and many others who depend upon snowmelt and rain are gonna be sorely upset as the ski season was a bust tooo…We actually pray for rain in April so the people dependent upon water won’t be jammed up in the coming months!
chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
Love oatmeal!
I’d love to figure out how to mimic those “Little Debbie” oatmeal pie cookies. That’d be so yummY!
This looks amazingly soft and springy! It resembles the baked oatmeal I often make, but with frosting.
As a kid, I loved oatmeal with a bit of butter and a spoon of sugar or honey.
#QuakerUp and #SweepsEntry
I love making baked oatmeal to last the entire week. Lots of different flavor combinations.
I’ve never heard of steel cut oats and now you’ve intrigued me to look for them at the store. I’ve always loved using oats in my chocolate chip cookies and can’t wait to try this recipe, it looks delicious. Thanks for a great give-away opportunity.
Best breakfast: cooked oats, chopped apple, chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts), and raisins. Any left over, chill in refrigerator and add some yogurt for an excellent snack!1
I add ground oatmeal to my smoothies for extra goodness. When we are going to have a busy week, I make oatmeal ahead and leave it in the refrigerator and then a quick zap in the microwave in the AM and we are ready to eat and head out the door. Each person can add their own idea of morning goodness (nuts, raisins, etc.).
Oh! I am making this today!!
Love oatmeal with lots of cinnamon, raisins, seeds and nuts, too!
… And I use oatmeal to make a wonderfully hearty and yummy gluten free bread!!
Thank you!
I am craving my favorite oatmeal toffee cookies. May have to make that for the bake sale this week.
Never had steel cut oats in a cake but sounds like something I’d like to try!
I love oatmeal! It started when I was little and my mom would buy us the Dino egg oatmeal and now I use the quick oats on the stove and add my own ingredients. I would love to try the new steel cut!
I will definitely try the 3 min steel oat, have tried to cook steel oat before but made a mess.
YUM!!
I love oatmeal with fresh blueberries and sliced almonds. I add a smidgen of almond extract to the liquid to make it extra almond-y, and I top it with a bit of honey at the end! So good.
OMG this looks so amazing I can’t wait to make it!
Good morning,
Like you, I have always loved oatmeal and enjoy it for breakfast a lot. I, also, make a lot of oatmeal “treats” for family and friends. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this drawing.
Nancy V
:-)
We use Quaker Quick 3-Minute Steel Cut Oats Original #QuakerUp in our meatloaf recipes. Ground beef, ground pork and ground turkey is mixed with oatmeal, seasoning, spices, one egg, a dash of milk, cooked chopped onioins and garlic. Muffin tins for mini loaves are the kids’ favorite. Some like ketchup as a topping while others like salsa. Always a big hit at our house!
Yes- I’m thinking of oatmeal chocolate chips for this recipe! Yummy!!
This cake sounds so delicious — I just might make for Easter this weekend!
This sounds delicious! I’d love to try those oats in a more traditional oatmeal cookie, too.
I would make apple crisp. heres my tweet
https://twitter.com/aes529/status/582527278879506432