Mom is Great! She Gives Us Breakfast Cake!
By
(You know that song right? Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake! It’s an old Bill Cosby comedy thing. Matt sings this song everytime I make this for breakfast!) (Anyway…)
This is a super easy breakfast that can be made ahead of time…or made fresh the morning you plan to eat it. I adapted my Giant Breakfast Cookie recipe to make this cake, and it’s moist and yummy. Especially with a glass of milk!
“Mom is Great” Breakfast Cake (yes, I humbly named it myself)
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole rolled oats
¾ cup honey
2 eggs
1 t. sea salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1 cup raisins, chocolate chips or other dried fruit
Stir together butter, buttermilk, flour and oats in a glass bowl. Cover with a cloth and allow the grains to soak on your counter overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Stir in honey, eggs, salt, baking soda and vanilla. Fold in raisins, chocolate chips or dried fruit. Pour into a buttered 9×9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Serve warm…serve cold…it’s good either way. Cut into squares and wrapped in plastic wrap, this is a great portable breakfast or snack too!
Who wouldn’t want cake for breakfast? Just watch, your family will be singing to you too if you serve this! “Mom is great! She gives us breakfast cake!”
Hehe…think we should tell ‘em it’s good for them?
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I just made this this morning for my incredibly picky eaters (ages 2 and 4). HUGE hit-thank you! Your blog is so helpful!
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Are chocolate chips really dried fruit? What great news, I should eat more of them! LOL
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Ok I just realized that one stick of butter (1/2 cup) has 88 grams of fat!!!! Is there a lower fat way to make it? I’m not into low fat foods by any means but butter does contain high amounts of saturated fat which is proven to be unhealthy for your heart.
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Laura Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
You can substitute applesauce if you want and I think it should work just fine!
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Suzy Q Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Actually it’s just the opposite! The rise in heart problems and related diseases spiked with the decrease of consumption of saturated fats and the increase of consumption of poly-unsaturated fats such as margarine, crisco, vegetable oils etc. When you find out how they actually make the hydrogenated oils it’s really nasty and quite unpalatable. I was so excited to find this out! Bring on the butter and cream! We’ve actually been eating a diet focused on full fat foods (butter, cream, etc. and we’ve actually lost weight (for one you feel full a lot faster so you don’t eat near as much!)
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Meredith Reply:
October 18th, 2010 at 5:31 am
I second Suzy’s reply. My family has taken the same approach to fats this entire year and we have all actually lost weight as well and have been much healthier and felt much better. We are not afraid of butter, cream, and whole milk around this house! To me these are a few of life’s God-given pleasures!!
Brandi Reply:
February 2nd, 2011 at 7:13 pm
what type of butter are u guys using..cause ive working on getting rid of my country crock for that reason :( I love my margrine but I know to be healthier like im trying to do i need to x it out and use real butter..someone pls tell me the best butter to use..thats real..
Rebecca Reply:
March 20th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
The only butter I’ve been able to find in stores that isn’t loaded with fake ingredients is Land O’ Lakes all natural. Be careful though, because some of the Land O’ Lakes brand stuff is not butter. The Land O’ Lakes all natural brand I found listed only whipped sweet cream and salt as ingredients.
Kris Cannon Reply:
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:32 am
Third That! Add Nourishing Traditions to your recipe book collection. It totally opened my eyes.
Now, that doesn’t mean slather it on every bite of food, but when fat is called for, make his your choice.
I use organic butter made by the Amish, yum! I no longer use vegetable oil, corn oil, canola oil etc.
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Kris Peterson Reply:
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:37 pm
I have been so torn as to what is the best oil to use.
For example our pancake recipe called for vegetable oil
so I ended up using olive because that is what we had on hand.
Thanks for suggestions : )
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Suzy Q Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 7:48 am
I’ve heard that the very best butter to use is actually cultured butter. However it is hard to find and quite costly when you do. Think $5 for a pound! Coconut oil is a great stand in also. When I contacted the Weston Price Foundation about getting butter and cream from the store. They responded that the only dairy products that they would suggest buying at the supermarket (pasteurized and such) are butter and cream because they are a different part of the milk. So we buy milk (and cream) from good old Wally World and we get our milk from a dairy raw.
Kris Cannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Yes and yes to coconut oil! So yummy in baked goods, makes my muffins very moist and with
less baking time. Getchu some coconut oil! It’s kind of expensive unless you buy it at Walmart.
But if you are really concerned, it is a good investment on something you may be consuming
regularly in your diet. All my pancake recipes call for melted butter, and only about 2 T per
12-16 pancakes which is pretty negligible. You can also sub kefir for buttermilk which has
probiotics that are so good for you. I make shakes with it too, so it won’t go to waste, you don’t
want to make pancakes everyday, or do you ?lolololo I do! Like Laura said, you can always cut
the fat with applesauce. Best fat sources are coconut, olive and flax, egg yokes and animal fat with
the protein to which they are attached. French and Japanese have lowest case of Coronary disease!
Sorry, I m passionate about food and good health!!! We get farm fresh eggs, raw milk, and currently
Amish butter, but would get that at Walmart also if I had to.
Kris Peterson Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Thanks. We are in Juneau, Alaska so it is hard to get anything fresh
here. So I can use butter or applesauce. . . or coconut oil.
I’m going to see if I can get it at our Wal Mart.
We are working on being healthy eaters but it is so expensive here.
Currently we are battling the cost heating which in our
new rental is almost $1000. this was very unexpected. Long story
but food is so important : )
Kris P
Kris Cannon Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Well, butter is definitely cheaper than coconut oil. Walmart coconut oil brand is I believe LUANA,
and it’s in a hard plastic plastic cylinder tub. But yes, butte and applesauce would be cheaper!
Capitalize on what you have that is local. Fish? I don’t know why but I assume fish lol and maybe
Bison? Or Elk? Send hubby to the lake to ice fish! lol
Roz Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:22 pm
I use coconut oil for everything these days. Super yummy and you don’t get the coconut flavor in everything, it just gives it a light flavor, really nice. Amazon has organice on their subscription.
Virginia Brown Reply:
February 5th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Best oil to use is coconut oil, gently melted in cup set in hot
water.
Suzanne Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
I read last week- on a blog that the coconut oil from Walmart is not expelled the same and therefore has transfats in it. Laura, do you know if this is true?
Cake is a favourite food group of mine, so I was excited to try your recipe. Half asleep I assembled the goods to soak and added the honey by mistake, but it worked out fine in the morning. I added raisins and cut up some dates. The cake was very lovely, my husband and our two year-old enjoyed it as well! Thank you for the recipe.
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Hi, are you only soaking the flour because you grind your own or does regular whole wheat flour from the grocery store need to be soaked as well? Thanks!! Oh and I have King Arthur whole wheat flour if that helps. :)
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Laura Reply:
October 2nd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
No, whole wheat is best soaked no matter if it is fresh or store bought. BUT, I don’t always soak – I just TRY to soak. The recipe will work either way.
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Leeanna Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Thank you! Can’t wait to try this with my boys!
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I have quick rolled oats that I bought for another recipe. Is this the same thing and do they need to be soaked overnight?
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Laura Reply:
October 18th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Quick rolled oats are the same as rolled oats, except that they have been processed just a bit more so they are a little more “chopped up”. They will work just fine in this recipe and if possible, I do suggest soaking them for this recipe!
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Can you use steel cut oats for this?
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Laura Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:29 am
I never have but you could try it!
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Would soaking the grains in yogurt work just as well as buttermilk? I don’t really like the flavor of the buttermilk :(
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Laura Reply:
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Sure, that would work just fine!
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Kris Cannon Reply:
February 27th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
I soak my oats overnight with a 1/1/1 ratio, one cup oats, one cup water, one T plain greek yogurt
– YUM, YUM, YUM! This is how I eat them normally as well as cooking.
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I just sat down after making a bunch of pizza pockets to freeze for lunches and found this recipe. Looks great and will have to add it to my other from your wonderful site. Now I can’t stop singing that Cosby jingle in my head! Thanks Laura!
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This sounds awesome! Just baked a batch of the breakfast cookies and all 4 of my boys were head over heels in love with them! I was thinking about adding some organic baking cocoa to this recipe for an over-the-top breakfast cake. Will let you know how it turns out!
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Great recipe, moist and delicious. Thank you for sharing! I love making breakfast that will last us a few days (really frees up my morning). I replaced the butter with 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cup pumpkin, which gives the cakes lovely color :)
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If I double this recipe, what size pan will work? 9 x 13 or a large round cast iron skillet (12 inches across?)? We are a family of 8, so a 9 x 9 may not be enough for breakfast. We can finish off a 9 x 13 pan of baked oatmeal for breakfast. thanks
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Laura Reply:
February 20th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I 9×13 might work, but it would take a lot of baking time. You may want to try pouring it into a baking sheet and baking it like a sheet cake.
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Quick question:
My flour is all sprouted, so I don’t soak it. Could I just soak the oats by themselves or still soak it all together? I’ve never really thought about it before, but I wondered if soaking sprouted flour would mess it up for any reason. My daughter just saw this recipe and begged me to make it immediately : )
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Laura Reply:
February 27th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
I think you can just soak the oats by themselves since the wheat was sprouted. No need for soaking the flour! Just add it after the oats are soaked when you’re ready to mix together the rest of the cake.
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Thanks for the reply. Would you believe I JUST finished mixing it all in a bowl to soak for the night? Shoulda checked my email first! Oh well. I doubt it will hurt to soak the flour too, even if it didn’t need it. Looking forward to cake in the morning!
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emily kay Reply:
March 24th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
I wouldn’t think it would hurt the sprouted flour to soak it, and from what I understand, you need to add some flour to oats when soaking them anyway. The oats themself don’t have enough phytase to break down the phytates in the oats, so the flour provides the phytase needed.
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I’ve made your Giant Breakfast Cookies several times now and my family loves them, so I decided to try your cake recipe. My cake came out rather dry compared to the cookies. Any suggestions?
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 8:15 am
I’m not sure…my breakfast cake is usually quite moist. Maybe try adding a little more buttermilk next time? Just a guess.
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Do you think I could sub coconut oil for half of the butter? This looks yummy…
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 8:16 am
Yep, that would work just fine!
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Can’t wait to try this! You say to bake it in a 9 x 9 baking pan. I only have an 8 x 8 or 9 x 13. Would it work ok with one of those sizes. Silly question I know!
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 8:16 am
I’d say go with a 9×13 or it may take forever to get done in the middle!
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Great recipe and can’t wait to try this! I’ve never soaked grains before and have an issue with leaving something with buttermilk in it on the counter overnight. Does the milk go sour at room temp for that long? Can you soak in the fridge? Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 8:17 am
No, it does just fine at room temp overnight. Buttermilk is already “soured milk” and has live cultures in it, making it very safe to be left out overnight. If you soak in the fridge, it will be REALLY difficult to stir the next morning!
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I’m looking forward to trying this recipe when I have some buttermilk around…
How crucial is it that your bowl is glass? I don’t have a glass bowl anymore (I regretfully gave it away over a year ago). Would a metal bowl work???
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Kacie D Reply:
March 21st, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Soaking grains requires an acid (in this case, the buttermilk), and acids and metals don’t mix… In truth, you would be causing metals to leach out into your food. I would invest in some glass for soaking– I had to do this when we started soaking grains, too, and it has been worth the money. I actually just bought a glass salad serving bowl (for its size) and it works great, plus it was cheaper than the actual mixing bowls atthe store.
Good luck!
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Lauren Reply:
March 22nd, 2011 at 7:59 am
Thanks! That’s what I needed to know!
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Do you mill your wheat in the “Fine” position for cakes, pies, cookies etc. or still in the middle at 12 o’clock?
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Laura Reply:
April 5th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Yeah, I’m lazy and mill all my wheat at 12:00. :)
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We just had this cake. We loved it. I didn’t have any dried fruit so I put frozen blueberries in it. They all ended up at the bottom, but it was still really good. Everyone loved it.
Mine was crumbly and didn’t look as pretty as yours. I forgot to adjust for my high altitude next time I will add more flour or less soda.
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Ok, I noticed after I soaked the oatmeal and wheat that it was very hard….after I added rest of the ingredients it was a little more moist, but I’m afraid it’s going to be dry too…. I followed the directions exactly…. Hope they like it enough to eat it if it is dry. (I also used the homemade choc chip recipe.) :) But I’ll try more buttermilk next time, if it is too dry. Thanks for a great idea!
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Ha! I had the same fears as above…will it be dry, will they like this healthy version of cake? I made this for my son’s 8th birthday breakfast (today!) and everyone gave it a thumbs up! I had a bagel for b’fast…because I don’t like sweets that early in the morning…turns out I had some of this too because, though it is a sweet, it was not TOO sweet. Thanks for the wonderful treat! I am sure it will become a ‘regular’ on our family’s menu. :)
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My family loves this cake and the breakfast cookies, too. But my youngest can’t eat it because of a number of allergies. I can easily sub for the dairy and chocolate chips that I usually use, but I’m stumped on how to sub for oatmeal. Do you think I could just use more flour? I’m afraid it will be too dense and no one will want to eat it. Any suggestions?
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Laura Reply:
July 19th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Hmmm…maybe sub other items like coconut flakes, sesame seeds, flax seeds – things that would take up some of the “space” in the recipe without weighing it down so much. Just an idea!
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Mayira Reply:
July 20th, 2011 at 6:18 am
I tried it this morning. I subbed coconut oil for the butter, rice milk for the buttermilk, shredded coconut for the oatmeal, and I used raisins. It was still pretty good. The child who couldn’t eat it before gobbled it up! The others gave mixed reviews. They said they like it the original way better. :) Personally, I just missed the chocolate chips but thought the cake part was fine.
Thanks for the recipe and for the substitution suggestion.
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Laura,
Laughed at the name of your breakfast cake…being almost 50, I tend to sing it. Bill Cosby in “Fatherhood” was “Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake!”
Just brings back funny memories.
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We had this for breakfast today. It is AWESOME!!!
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Laura, I buy all my diary products from the grocery store so of course they are pasturized and homogenized. Can I still leave my grains soaking out on the counter overnight?
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Laura Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
I think you’d still be fine – I’m assuming you’re meaning that you’ll be making cultured buttermilk with these dairy products and then using them to soak your dough? If so, then yes, I don’t think you have anything to worry about!
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Susan Alexander Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Hey, I haven’t tried soaking yet, but I can’t afford and don’t have time to make my own buttermilk, so I buy it from the store – does that mean I cannot do soaking??
Thanks!
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 11:41 am
You can still soak them. Here is a link to where Laura stands with this
as of recently! :)
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/my-current-thoughts-about-soaking-or-not-soaking-grains
Susan Alexander Reply:
March 20th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Well, I soaked and made this… And had horrible horrible gas all day from eating it… I’m wondering if the soaking was actually a problem. :( I’m going to try again eventually and not soak this time and see if I can eat it. It was so yummy, but I can’t have my insides tornup like that!
I LOVE your website. And when I say love I mean I REALLY LOVE your website. Finding this recipe had me (almost) rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. My husband and I love that Bill Cosby comedy sketch. We actually just watched it on youtube about a week ago and started singing it to our 7 yr old. Now he sings it all the time. I have lots of questions for you but I need to get to church tonight. I will try sending you an email later when I get home. Thank you for all your wonderful advice and patience with those of us trying to eat healthier and feed our families healthier too. God bless you and your precious family!
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Oh and I so plan on making this very soon. I just got done this afternoon making your vanilla muffins with the cinnamon crumb topping for breakfast for tomorrow. We had to test them today because they looked too good to just put in the fridge. DELISH! Thank you for all the wonderful recipes! :)
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I use fresh goat’s milk to soak the grains when I make this cake and your waffles too. The thing I’m wondering about is the comment about the acid needed in buttermilk to break down the flour. Would the fresh goat’s milk be doing that?
I also made a lower calorie, but still healthy, version. I switched a 1/2 cup of the butter for fresh goat’s milk and 1/2 cup of the wheat flour for 1/2 cup more oats. I only used 2/3 cup of honey and it was plenty sweet. This saved 1281 calories. Making a 1/9 of the cake 387.3 calories instead of 525!!! I need all the help I can get to stay fit! :)
Notice, I didn’t cut back on the chocolate! I try!! :D
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
October 7th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Wow! That is a big calorie saver! What great substitutes. Laura let me nkow that the acid is something that is needed and the goats milk does not do it alone.
Thanks for sharing your version!
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I would recommend baking in a 9 x 13 pan vs 9 x 9. I baked mine in an 8 x 8 and it took almost an hour of baking, the edges were burnt and the middle is still rather moist. Otherwise, good recipe. I used yogurt instead of buttermilk for the soaking.
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I was so excited about this! It is in the oven now…and has been for a really long time. It is still VERY jiggly in the middle and DARK brown. IT looks nothing like yours…what in the world have I done wrong??
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Laura Reply:
January 12th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Every oven is different, so it sounds like you may need to set your oven at a slightly lower temp and/or maybe bake it in a larger pan so that the dough can be more spread out. Hope that helps!
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I made this for Sunday breakfast today. It turned out perfect. In a 9 x 9 pan, it baked for about 50 minutes in my oven. My family couldn’t decide which was better…giant breakfast cookies or breakfast cake. Both are winners at our house!
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This cake is soooooo…… good. I am wondering now though if and how one could make this gluten free. Could anyone help me with what would subs would work to make it gluten free?
Thanks!
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
I just made a coffee cake for a friend with celiacs and I bought a mix
at Walmart that was a gluten free “mix” with all kinds of different flours
that are naturally gluten free. You could try to sub something like that.
I think it was Red Mill brand.
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YUM! I made this recipe tonight – as muffins. I like the simplicity of serving and the ability to freeze some! I didn’t have any buttermilk, so I substituted vanilla yogurt with good results.
This recipe will probably make a weekly appearance on our menu. YUMMY! Perhaps one of the best muffins I have ever made. (I knew it would be good because we also love your breakfast cookies that you adapted to make this recipe!)
Thanks for another great recipe!
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This was great! I added a dash of cinnamon and some chia seeds and it was exceleeeent!! Thanks ; )
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I just mixed the ingredients that are to be soaked, and it’s all very dry. I assumed it would be very liquidy. Is it supposed to be so thick and dry? I only used 3/4 cup buttermilk. Is that wrong?
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Laura Reply:
March 9th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
No, you did it fine – not all recipes that call for soaking are very liquidy.
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I mixed my buttermilk and butter with the oatmeal and flour. It is a really thick mixture like the texture of hard thick oatmeal. Is this the righ consistency ? I am worried.
Thanks
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Laura Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:24 am
That is the correct consistency, but since it does get very thick, I sometimes use my food processor to help me mix in the remaining ingredients.
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What can you use instead of buttermilk? I do not have a health food store close to me and finding whole foods is a huge challenge, along with my very limited budget of $75 per week (for a family of 5, 3 teens). I do use soy milk, would that work. Thanks Just found your site and I love it.
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have you made this with coconut flour instead of wheat flour? if so how do I substitute it? or would almond flour work?
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Laura,
I had a question about some of your recipes. I was wondering if I can add pumpkin to this and the giant breakfast cookie recipe? Also, I only have whole wheat pastry flour, can I use that instead of whole wheat flour? Is it the same thing?
Thanks
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
August 28th, 2012 at 10:24 am
Both of those should work. You shouldn’t need to do anything else to add pumpkin. I do not think that whole wheat is the same as whole wheat pastry, but it should be fine.
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Hi I wanted to make these today but I don’t have buttermilk and don’t have transportation to the store since we only have one car. So I was wondering what can I substitute for buttermilk??? Any ideas??
Thanks,
Luz
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Laura Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 10:56 am
Regular milk will work just fine!
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Do you think you could bake this recipe in loaf pans?
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Laura Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 4:16 pm
Sure, good idea!
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Is there a reason that the cookies call for cinnamon, but the cake does not? I’m eager to try this!!
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LindseyforLaura@HHM Reply:
February 6th, 2013 at 8:36 pm
No reason! If you want to you can throw some cinnamon in the cake too. :)
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I have made this recipe in the past and wasn’t to keen on the results. When I used the 8×8 pan it was dry, very crumbly and in order for the center to be cooked through the outer edges were way over done. I changed and put the batter into 9×13. Better results but still a bit dry and crumbly. This time I did things differently.
I did not soak the flour and oats. I put my oats and flour in the food processor and blended them together and made the oats into a flour.I used Bob’s Red Mill extra thick rolled oats and King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour. I added the other ingredients into processor, except chocolate chips, and blended them together (I folded in the chocolate chips last). Instead of a pan, I made muffins. It took about 15 minutes at 350 to bake these and they were light with a nice crumb and not overdone at all. These were delicious and came out of the baking cups very easy. My kids enjoyed them very much!
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Could this recipe be made with regular flour instead of whole wheat flour? If so, should I still soak it with the oats?
Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
April 4th, 2013 at 8:20 am
Yes, regular flour would work – I’d just skip the soaking part. :)
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Love Butter, cream & all.. I rarely use crisco or veggie oils. would rather use lard & olive oil.
I made your breakfast muffin recipe too.
in fact in this recipe I used 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup coconut oil.
& my own yogurt in place of the buttermilk.
I put a brown sugar , butter oatmeal topping on them before baking .
Thanks SO much for posting. my mom is 87 & rarely eats like she should , so I am taking a couple to her in the nursing home today.
lisalynn
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I love this cake! Mine comes out very dense and looks nothing like yours. I do soak it. So full of yummy goodness!
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