Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake

This weekend I got the urge to bake something, after realizing that it had been weeks since I'd made any kind of sweet treats. I asked Joe what he would like me to make and he replied, "We haven't had good cupcakes in awhile." Naturally, being the wonderful wife I am, I responded "No, I don't want to make cupcakes - they take too long" and made something else instead. Sorry, babe... I did, at least, try to choose a recipe that I thought Joe would enjoy. I had marked this recipe from the April issue of Cooking Light and decided to give it a whirl. It's different from the usual gooey, chocolatey, peanut buttery recipes I usually gravitate to and just seemed like a good choice. And it was! This turned out to be a tender and moist cake with the tang of apples. The icing was sweet and sticky, almost like a hardened caramel. I'm happy to say that Joe really liked it, so I don't feel quite so bad about not making his cupcakes. You could easily make this a breakfast bread by leaving off the frosting - I may do that next time to make it more acceptable to eat the leftovers before noon ;)

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake

Cake:

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup hot water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup chunky applesauce

1/3 cup honey

2 large eggs

Cooking spray

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds, toasted

Remaining ingredients:

1 cup frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, combine oats and 1 cup hot water in a small bowl; set aside.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Combine 1 1/3 cups sugar, applesauce, 1/3 cup honey, and eggs in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed 1 minute. Add oat mixture; beat at low speed until well blended. Add half of flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat well. Add remaining flour mixture; beat well. Spoon batter into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 48 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Place dish on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup honey; cook 2 minutes or until bubbly, stirring constantly. Stir in almonds. Quickly pour frosting over cake; spread evenly using a rubber spatula.
Preheat broiler.
Broil cake 1 minute or until frosting is bubbly and golden. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with whipped topping; sprinkle with ground cinnamon, if desired.

Yield
16 servings (serving size: 1 cake piece and 1 tablespoon topping)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 255(19% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 2.1g,mono 1.7g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 3.4g; CHOLESTEROL 34mg; CALCIUM 40mg; SODIUM 193mg; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.9g