{ Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake & Firefly }

 If I asked you what a Browncoat was, would you know?

Or would you simply stammer, "Uh... a coat..that is brown?".

If you know the correct answer to this question, I'll scootch over on the couch, cause we are about to become good friends.

"Browncoat" is a nickname for the Independence fighters in Joss Whedon's much loved, but tragically short lived series, Firefly.

Quick aside. I freaking love Joss Whedon.

I mean, Firefly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Avengers. And.. Hello people, he wrote the screenplay for Toy Story. TOY STORY. Do you hear me??? *I love you Joss* (Don't tell my husband).

As I said, Firefly was short lived, short as in one season. 14 episodes. 14 episodes, however, of goodness.

There is also a movie, Serenity, made some 3 years after the end of the show, but that's another story
(story is, I haven't watched it yet! gasp!).

This is Malcolm (Mal) Reynolds, the captain of the Serenity. 

I have no idea where this photo is actually from, but I assume all copyright belongs to Fox or Joss Whedon
mmmm... Nathan Fillion. 

Ok, a little background here, and this will sound SO weird, but... This show takes place in what seems to be the old west... in outer space.

Confused? Yeah, ok, but 'saucesome. Believe me.

What does any of this have to do with baked goods? Well, my friend Darla of Bakingdom, who is also a rabid fan, asked me if I'd like to team up with her to do a Firefly post. Um. OK!

So, here we are. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the premiere of the show.

Now, 10 years ago I did not watch it. If you were a fan back then, you can blame me as one of the non-watchers and therefore, I am, in part, responsible for the show's demise. Don't rub it in too much though, I blame myself as well. Bad Tina! Bad! BAD!

 I'd like to thank Netflix for allowing me to stream this wonder into my house now though! 

Firefly takes place in 2517 and our planet is now referred to as "Earth That Was".  Food is not easy to come by up there in outer space and they mostly live on artificial proteins and flavorings. Very, very basic.

The cake I decided to make is rustic & quite basic. Now, they would have a hard time coming across the sugars in this cake, and possibly the flour. In episode eight (Out of Gas), when Kaylee makes the Doctor a birthday cake, she mentions that she couldn't find enough flour & that it was mostly made of the same proteins they'd just eaten for dinner.

I don't think I could make ANYTHING delicious from their stores!

Basically, as River once said: "My food is problematic." 

So this is what I've ended up with.

This recipe, like my last, Striped Delight, comes from the Family Cookbook I mentioned.

It's an Oatmeal Cake.

When I told my hubs I was making an Oatmeal Cake, he objected. 

When it was done, he no longer objected. The Bean didn't either. In fact, the Bean went back for seconds.

This is my Mother In Law's recipe, but tweaked a bit.

You'll  need:

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake

Cake:

1 1/4 Cups Boiling Water

1 Cup uncooked Quick Oats

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter, softened

2 eggs

1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

1 Cup White Sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 1/3 Cups Flour

dash of Nutmeg

 For Icing:

1/2 stick butter

1 Cup brown sugar

1/4 Cup evaporated milk

Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.

 Measure your oats into a large, heat proof bowl. 

Boil up your water.

Pour over your oats & allow to soak for 15 minutes.

Measure out your cake ingredients and beat together.

After the 15 minutes, your oats will be super thick & sticky, like this.

Add them to your cake mix & beat a couple minutes.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan & bake for 30 minutes.

While baking, prep your icing.

This is where mother in law and I parted ways. Her icing contains nuts (which I don't like) and coconut (which the hubs and Bean do not like). 

Internet, save me!

And so it did. I found an extremely similar recipe by My Wooden Spoon, yet her icing was much more appealing to us. From her recipe, I also got the idea to add the cinnamon & dash of nutmeg (her's calls for 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, but I just wanted a hint).

So, I made her caramely icing.

 Heat the brown sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a pan. When melted nicely, remove from heat.

 Then add enough powdered sugar to thicken, but still be able to pour. Just throw in a little at a time until you get to a nice consistency. As you can probably see in the photo above, I poked holes into the cake so that the icing would seep into the cake.

YUS.

Pour over hot cake.

Serve warm or cold.

Amazing both ways.

If my picky boys like it, I'm pretty darn sure Mal and the Serenity crew would approve!

Now, go visit Darla and see her AMAZING Mudder's Milk cupcakes!! Chocolate amazingness folks! 

Go see!

photo by Darla of Bakingdom.com

 Bakingdom

Happy Firefly Day!

also not my photo. It's Fox's. Or Joss'. Or someone else's!

Tina

Shared at:
Somewhat Simple