Oat Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a small basin, combine oatmeal, salt, baking soda, and dripping.
Pour boiling water over the mixture to form a dough.
Knead the dough quickly and roll it out very thin.
Bake
Bake one side on a griddle and the other side on a cake toaster before the fire.
Repeat the process, making one oat cake at a time.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Oatmeal
- Forms the main body of the cake, giving it its grainy, sturdy texture.
- Dripping
- Adds fat, which gives richness and softens the texture of the cake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the mixture to help the cake lighten slightly.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the oatmeal and starch so the mixture binds into a workable dough.
The step that matters
Roll the dough very thin. Oatmeal dough has no gluten to trap gas, so a thin sheet cooks through evenly and dries enough to become crisp. A thick piece stays doughy in the centre.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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