Recipe Blog: Oatmeal and Honey Cake

Actually Oatmeal and Honey cake is a bit of a misnomer because what I thought was oatmeal I later realised was oatbran, so my version of this recipe, which I found in the 25 Easter Bakes leaflet that came with the March edition of Cook Vegetarian, is actually Oatbran and Honey Cake.

It's very easy.

Turn the oven to 180C or Gas 4.  Grease and base line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin.

Melt 100g butter with 100g honey and add 150g regular or jumbo rolled oats, put to one side.

Mix together 50g oatmeal/oatbran, 100g light brown muscovado sugar and 150g self-raising flour (second confession, I only had white bread flour so I used that plus two teaspoons of baking powder).

Melt 200g butter and stir it into the dry ingredients, together with four medium free-range eggs, beaten.

Pour into the cake tin.

At this point the recipe says to sprinkle the butter and oat mixture on top, I tried that and it kind of dolloped, so I carried on dolloping, let it sink into the cake mix and then stirred it about a bit.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.

Two questions - do any of you actually beat the eggs before adding them to a cake mix?  Ever?  I tend to crack them straight into the bowl and threaten them gently with a fork.  Do any of you insert an actual skewer into cakes, or do you all just grab the nearest slim-bladed knife to hand?