You know we’ve got an insatiable sweet tooth and love mixing up new cakes and confections as a solution to our cravings. While most of our cakes start with the standard base of flour, baking soda and salt, along with some combo of butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, this lazy day oatmeal cake is a little different…. Rolled oats that have been left to soak in boiling water act as a supplement to the flour, adding a dense, nutritious element that makes our cake perfectly chewy and delicious.

You start to assemble this cake as you would any other, but when the time comes, you fold in the oats (which have absorbed the water and softened nicely) and transfer your batter to the baking dish. While the cake bakes, you mix up the icing – butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and coconut – then pour it over the baked cake and broil it until golden brown. You want to be careful when it’s broiling to make sure it doesn’t burn, but if you get it right, this icing adds so much flavor and texture to the cake; it’s the perfect complement!

We should warn you: sometimes this cake comes out nice and flat, and sometimes…it comes out pretty wonky-looking with a nice dome in the middle of it. If perfection is your thing, you can level the cake before adding the icing, but if you’re fine with a more rustic look, go ahead and keep it as is (which is clearly what we did, since we love this cake for its flavor and didn’t want to waste any of it)! There’s no wrong way to go about this, so long as you try it.

The oats make this dessert a little denser and add a subtle flavor that goes perfectly with the other ingredients, then the icing ties everything together and has you licking your lips wanting more. If you look in your pantry and realize you haven’t used oats in your cooking recently, try this recipe – it’s such a great use for them, and nice to pack a little more nutritional value into your desserts!