oatmeal chocolate chip cake with cream cheese frosting

After being away from the kitchen for what seems like ever, (really only a week, but it was a looong week), I tackled two Baked recipes in one evening. Thankfully, they weren't overly complicated. I made the must-bake-every-October pumpkin whoopie pies, and this week's Baked Sunday Morning recipe, the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

We don't purchase many pre-packaged goodies at our house, but my husband is really fond of chocolate chip muffin bars, and they magically appear in our grocery cart pretty often. So when I read over this week's recipe, I was hopeful that we had found an homemade replacement for the store bought bars.

I searched all over the city to find a baking pan with bar-like rectangular cavities (financier pan). No go. Hate that it's impossible to find stuff in brick and mortar stores! Love that you can find anything on the internet, but the internet is no so great for spur of the moment, need-this-now situations! On the other hand, I did find the tart pan I was looking for 9 Baked Sunday Mornings recipes ago.

This recipe is simple enough, but a bit of planning ahead is required, as the oats and butter must be soaked in boiling water for half an hour before continuing with the recipe. You must also coat the chocolate chips in flour, to keep them from sinking in the batter. Otherwise, it's just a matter of mixing eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. The cooled oats get mixed in, then flour, then the chocolate chips. The mixture gets baked for 40-45 minutes, and that's it!

Unless you want to frost the bars. Then it's your standard butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla that gets mixed until creamy and delicious. Truthfully, I didn't make the frosting in the recipe, because I had extra filling from the whoopie pies, so I used that instead!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese FrostingAdapted From: Baked Explorations
Yield: One 9 by 13 Cake

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature

8 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat 1 1/4 cups water to boiling.

Place oats and cubed butter in a large bowl and pour boiling hot water over. Wait 30 seconds and stir to moisten all the oats and melt the butter. Set the mixture aside for 25-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position the rack in the center. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line with parchment paper.

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl and toss them with the vanilla until covered. Then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the flour over the chips until coated and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, both sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon until combined. Gently fold in the remaining flour and then the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bakes the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan or on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.

To Make the Frosting - Beat the butter until it is completely smooth (can be done with a stand or hand mixer). Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and beat until completely smooth. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

Spread a thin layer of the frosting on the cooled cake. The frosted cake can be kept, refrigerated and tightly covered, for up to 3 days.

My husband wouldn't say that he'll stop buying the prepackaged bars, but did admit that these are pretty good! They are good plain, and over the top with the frosting. Easy enough to make regularly, I think this might be added to my regular rotation of snack recipes!