Last weekend, a group of us traveled up the hill to Montville (read about our whole trip soon) to celebrate our friends’ wedding. Naturally I saw this as an opportunity to bake as I’d have 8 people to consume my goods the day before the wedding. I’ve had this recipe from Bake or break saved for a while and it was a winner. It was dense almost like banana bread but not too heavy in your stomach. Although the chocolate chips settled to the bottom (which they’re not mean to), it was a successful failure as they formed a chocolaty crust. The vanilla cream cheese icing finished it off beautifully.

Start by mixing the chocolate chips and liquor together in a small bowl. I had brandy on hand from a few recipes (Christmas ham to name the best) so I used that instead of bourbon or scotch. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and toss the chocolate chips until they are fully coated. Set the alcoholic chocolates aside. I later found out from my wise friend Kristin that tossing the chocolate chips in flour is meant to stop them sinking to the bottom. I think they got drunk on brandy and sank despite the flour.

Place the oats and butter in a heat-proof bowl and cover them with 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water. I imagine this is what you would have for breakfast to keep warm in winter, that is if you wanted to keep warm under a few layers of chub. Wait 30 seconds then give it a stir until the butter has melted through. Set the buttery oats aside for 30 minutes.

About 5 minutes before the oats are done, whisk together the eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Add the butter oats to the bowl and fold them through.

Fold the remaining flour into the batter.

Finally, fold through the chocolate chips.

Spread the mixture into a greased and lined cake tin. As we were going to a wedding, I thought a heart tin suited the event. In retrospect, a bigger tin probably would have worked better. My smaller tin took a little too long to cook. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes at 170C fan-forced. Make sure you check it with a cake tester before you take it out of the oven. My cake took 1h 10m to bake.

Cool the cake on a wire rack.

I made a cream cheese icing to top the cake. I can’t tell exact quantities as I made it up as I went but there is a recipe on the site where I found the cake. I whipped some cream cheese and added vanilla, icing sugar and a little water until I had a spreadable consistency.

Dust the iced cake gently with cocoa. Enjoy!

Oatmeal chocolate chip cake

Recipe from Bake or Break

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Ingredients

• 240g (8.5oz) chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp liquor, such as bourbon or scotch - I used brandy
• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar - I used caster sugar
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (340F) fan-forced. Grease and line a cake tin. The recipe suggest a 9″x13″ baking pan.
2. Tip the liquor over the chocolate chips and toss until they are all coated. Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the bowl and mix it up until the chocolate is flour-coated. Set aside.
3. Place the oats and butter in a heat-proof bowl then cover with 1 1/4 cups of boiling water. Let it sit for 30 seconds then stir until the butter is melted. Leave the oats aside for 30 minutes.
4. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
5. Add the oatmeal to the bowl and fold it through.
6. Fold through the rest of the flour and then mix in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour the batter into the cake tin.
8. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool on wire rack.
10. Ice with vanilla cream cheese icing and dust with cocoa.