German Oat Cake

This is a recipe from my old friend Mary Erickson and it tastes much better than you’d think from the title. The topping tastes like candy.

1 1/4 cup boiling water

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 4 oz bar sweet cooking chocolate (German chocolate), chopped

1 1/2 cups flour 1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup sugar)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

Pour boiling water over oats; add butter or margarine and chocolate. Let set 20 min., stir well. Sift together flour, sugar, soda and salt. Stir in brown sugar, add eggs and oatmeal mixture, stir or beat. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Topping:

Combine 6 T. butter, 1/4 cup light cream, 3/4 cup brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils, then turn heat down and simmer 2-3 minutes, till slightly thickened. Add 1/2 –3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans. Spread frosting on cake, then place cake in oven, turn on broiler (make sure oven rack is moved up close enough) and broil about 4 min. till topping is bubbly, remove from oven and cool. Or, you could use your little blow torch (that you bought for crème brûlée) on the topping instead.