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Jump to recipeThis oatmeal breakfast cake is dense and satisfying. Use quick-cooking oats and they’ll dissolve into the batter, use old-fashioned oats for more texture. We like it best with chocolate chips, but it’d be delish with your favorite fruit baked in, too!
I just walked in the door from an impromptu trip to Nashville, TN (I live in Minnesota, remember).
This is the fourth year that my eldest son has participated in a week long service oriented mission team. In past years, they’ve served in Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana– and this year they are in Nashville.
The group’s focus is threefold:
- They serve at the host church, doing projects like putting in sidewalks and building sheds.
- They visit various ministries in the area and not only learn about them, but serve with them. (Yesterday, they worked at a community garden and harvested over 1,200 pounds of potatoes!)
- They have classes that help them dig in to how God has made them, and how they can step into service and leadership in their home church and community.
A week before the trip was scheduled to begin, the lady who has always done all of their meal planning and preparation had to have emergency surgery. Since my college roommate and dear friend is one of the leaders of the trip, we were chatting about it and I mentioned that I couldn’t come for the whole week, but could come down and feed them the first few days, and get meals prepped for the rest of the week.
So that’s what I did.
The best kind of exhausted
I came home exhausted. But it’s the best kind of exhausted. I feel so fortunate to have been able to be a part of this group of 30 young people and adults growing and serving together.
And, as an added bonus, I got to visit the South for a few days! Gentility, how I miss you. Nice to see you again, Waffle House and sweet tea.
I’m not going to give you the whole run down of my plan to feed 30 people breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week, but I’ll share the highlights.
The sweet pastor of the church and his wife opened their home to me and gave me free reign of their kitchen for the three days I was with them. The first day, I did lots of baking.
Having a budget and limited time to prepare, I had hit my Aldi in Minnesota before we drove down to pick up a few supplies I knew I’d need. I picked up brownie mix on sale for 79 cents a box for a 9×13 pan size. Winner! I got six boxes, and baked them up my first day in the kitchen.
Oatmeal Breakfast Cake
I also baked oatmeal breakfast cake for Sunday morning’s breakfast. I mixed all of the dry ingredients at home in gallon size Ziploc bags and wrote the wet ingredients needed on the bags along with baking instructions. Boy did that make things so much more efficient on baking day!
These oatmeal cakes were a big hit.
I used quick cooking oats, which basically dissolved into the batter. This made for a dense, satisfying cake, without the texture of oats that some (un-named picky children) may not care for.
In other words, this is not baked oatmeal.
It tastes like the cake version of a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. Seriously yum!
I served the oatmeal breakfast cake with yogurt, juice, milk and coffee.
I added chocolate chips to my cakes, but they’d be great with fruit as well. Fresh blueberries … mmm! Feel free to customize to your family’s liking.
You could also use regular old-fashioned oats, too. I’ve made it like that and I really like the added texture.
Want to know what else I planned for the week?
- I used ground beef to make taco meat that I stashed in the freezer in foil pans.
- The pan of chicken in this photo was for Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya, which I made in a large, electric roaster. I cut up the chicken breasts and stored them in Ziploc bags until I needed the meat on Sunday night.
- I had planned on making pulled pork for one of their meals, but changed my plan when I found out that the church was providing pulled pork from a local BBQ place for the team. (BBQ in Nashville, um…yes please!)
- Ground beef also made its way into these foil packets (this is only half of them). The group will be at a campground later in the week, and needed food they could cook over a fire. I added steak seasoning to ground beef, made large patties, and wrapped each one in a double foil square.
- Pans of buttered potatoes (using frozen hash brown cubes) were packed up to go with the meat packets.
- I left marinated chicken breasts in bags for them to stick in crock pots in the morning, so after a long day of working they can come back to ranch shredded chicken sandwiches.
- And for breakfasts I left foil pans of egg bakes, pancake muffins, sausages, and lots of fruit and yogurt.
- Since they’ll be out working every day, lunches will be sandwich fixings they can tote in a cooler with fruit and chips.
What would you cook for a crowd?
I’d love to hear what you’d plan if you had to cook for a crowd. When I found out I was going, I hit Pinterest looking for ideas of things that could be made and frozen, prepped ahead, and served a crowd.
Speaking of freezing… this oatmeal breakfast cake freezes beautifully! We had almost a whole cake left over, so I stashed it in the freezer for the team to take out later in the week. Just be sure to wrap tightly with foil.
So what would you make?? I’d love to add it to my list if I’m ever blessed enough to cook for a crowd like this again!
Here’s the recipe for my oatmeal breakfast cake…enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 3 cups oats (old fashioned will give you more oaty texture, quick cooking dissolves into the batter more)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (you can make your own buttermilk by mixing white vinegar into regular milk...about a teaspoon of vinegar per cup of milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 cups chocolate chips, blueberries, or other add ins
Instructions
- Mix all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, together in large mixing bowl.
- Add wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips or other add-ins.
- Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes or until cake springs back when touched and/or toothpick comes out clean.
- To make ahead: Mix dry ingredients together in gallon size Ziploc bag. Use a permanent marker to write wet ingredients and baking instructions on outside of bag. Dump bag into bowl and proceed according to recipe.
- To freeze cake: Wrap tightly with foil, label and freeze. To serve, bring to room temperature.
Adapted from this recipe.
I am going to make this oatmeal cake for our camping trip today! Thanks for the recipe. I look forward to reading more in the future. I think that was a pretty awesome way to help with the ministry by putting together the meals for them. You are an inspirations and I hope to use some of your idea’s in the future if the need arises.
Shirlene, Your words are a real encouragement. Thank you, very sincerely. I do hope your family enjoys this breakfast cake as much as we do. Have fun camping–I like the idea of camping, but never end up enjoying the real thing as much. 🙂
I’m sure I made this and enjoyed every bite but for some reason I forget how awesome it was! I bet I have it printed or saved to my laptop 😁. I will make this for sure but in a smaller size so I won’t be too tempted to over eat. I will have to put a note in my calendar and take this for our next camping trip again. We love to cook outside but sometimes a quick grab and eat is nice too!!!
All the food ideas you shared for feeding a crowd were great the only thing I would add is baked breakfast casserole. I have a couple and likely found on Pinterest except for one. It is very hearty and filling.
Ooo yes, breakfast casseroles are fantastic!
They like chocolate chips in the oatmeal at our house too. Visiting from Talk it up Thursday Link-up. I’d like to invite you to join Sunday at a linkup at http://www.pursueyourproject.com. It’s called Family Joy Blog Link-up. Leave the host a comment to up your chances of being featured.
I think chocolate makes everything better, doesn’t it? 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Charlotte!
The breakfast cake looks really easy to make. I’m not really a big person on cooking in the morning but since this can be made ahead it is something the kids could handle on their own. We have a lot of sports and out of the home events so I am learning to cook ahead. Thanks for linking up to Talk It Up Thursday!
Michelle, I am not a morning person at all, so I am with you about having things I can prepare in advance. I hope your family likes it as much as we do!
WOW!! /that sound awesome!
Thanks for the recipe.
Blessings,
Deborah
Thanks so much for stopping by, Deborah! Hope you enjoy it!
That oatmeal breakfast cake sounds scrumptious. I love oatmeal and it always keeps me full all morning.
That sounds like a wonderful ministry opportunity, and I am sure you blessed those you served!
Thanks, Kelsey! I’m glad you stopped by. The cake is surprisingly filling and hearty!
That looks so yummy! I have a few kids that don’t like oatmeal either but if they don’t know that there’s oatmeal it they just might eat it! Pinned.
Fantastic! I hope they love it and you can smile on the inside. 😉
The cake sounds excellent and I personally commend you on adding the chocolate 🙂 Thank you for sharing with us this week on the Art of Home-Making Mondays at Strangers & Pilgrims on Earth!
Is this the same thing as baked oatmeal? I am helping my aunt make a breakfast for my extended family of around 50 people. Maybe this would be an idea…
It is not the same. This is much more cake-like, albeit a dense cake. If you use regular rolled oats, the texture is definitely more ‘oaty’, and if you use instant oats, it’s more cakey. I hope you like it!
Praise god for all your family does and may God richly bless you. Do you serve this cake cold or hot???? I have to make something for our Ladies bible study and this sounds perfect. I have to travel and be thee an hour before everyone else to set up. Would this cake work? Oh and CHOCOLATE? Oh my stars…yes!!!
Thank you, Dianna! And I typically make it in advance and serve it at room temperature, so that should work great!
We made a ton of these for a church group family campout, made them in advance and froze them and let them thaw overnight, served them with fat free greek yogurt and berries for the BEST parfait ever!
I’m thrilled you liked it! I love the idea of topping with the yogurt and berries. That sounds so delish!
Is there a substitute for coconut oil? Thank you.
Hi Rose, You could definitely use all butter!
Do frozen berries need to be thawed first?
Thanks!
No, you can throw them in frozen!
I am visiting where the altitude is 9,000 to 11.000 ft. Do you know how to adjust this recipe for the high altitude?
Hi Carol, I don’t, but here’s a link to a site that has info on adjusting recipes for high altitude baking: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking