You are kindly asked to step away from this post if you are not a PBnJ sandwich fan.  Please. Because if you aren’t this cake seriously is NOT for you.  But if you ARE, or at least someone at your house is, well then you are in for quite a treat because this Peanut Butter and Jelly snack cake is the epitome of the perfect PBnJ sandwich IF it were baked to warm and tender goodness and elevated to cakedom.

I am trying to think of a way to get you to imagine what my house smelled like when this was baking.  Close your eyes for a minute and picture your typical PBnJ sitting right in front of you.  Now toss it into a hot oven and inhale the warm and salty, peanut-y aroma as the peanut butter oozes and melts out the sides, and the sweet tanginess of the raspberry jam as it sizzles a bit as it touches the pan and creates a carmelized jam essence. It smelled like peanut butter and jelly heaven.

In the looks department, this cake is clearly lacking. Yeah, it may be no stunner of a cake and is not necessarily a company worthy layered cake, but it IS the best after school or work snack EVER.

 This cake is exactly right after a hard day, and you or your kids are craving a bite of something sweet, but a treat that will not entirely ruin anyone’s dinner; something that has a bit of a healthful bang for the buck and won’t send them into a sugar high (no one needs that, them or you).

It’s literally packed with oats because I found this recipe when I discovered a KING KONG sized oatmeal box sitting in my pantry as I was trying to organize it. “What was this doing here?!,” I wondered.  I would NEVER buy an oatmeal box that could feed an entire football team…no one in my family even eats oatmeal but me, and I prefer the steal cut kind.

—Yes, for those of you worriers out there (it takes one to know one), I checked the expiration date (If I were reading one of your posts…I would be screaming silently at my computer…”check the date…for the love of God, please check the date!”) and it was well within its expiration.

I decided right then and there that my next post MUST contain oatmeal and after perusing the Quaker Oats website, I came up with this doozy…Peanut Butter and Jelly Snack CAKE! Yippeee!  Make it for your kids…they will be so happy.  OR just make it for YOU and YOU will be so happy.  It’s just snack cake, yes, but it OOZES with peanut butter and jelly goodness.

P.S. Zoie (my daughter) advises to heat it up for 10 seconds in the microwave if you are not eating it straight out of the oven…she is so right.  Um…and I am seriously thinking of having a piece for breakfast, right now as I type this…with coffee to clarify because then it is officially a “coffee cake”.  Glad we agree. 🙂

Quaker Oats Peanut Butter and Jelly Cake
 I changed it just a bit from the original recipe by adding the Canola oil. I wanted a fluffier version than the recipe originally appeared to be.

Topping:
1/3 c. Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned is fine)
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 c. peanut butter (crunchy or smooth is fine)
1 T. butter (unsalted), softened a smidge in the microwave (10-15 seconds)

Cake:
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. Quaker oats (I used old fashioned, but quick is fine)
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk (low-fat, or nonfat is fine)
4 T. butter (unsalted), melted
1/4 c. canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. of your favorite jelly or jam.

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray coat a 9″ cake pan.  I am wondering if a springform pan would have worked, and then I could have released the entire cake and it would look a bit prettier.  Just a thought. It may not work, so don’t try it unless you are willing to part with your cake if it crumbles to its demise and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

For the Topping: In a small mixing bowl, combine oats, flour and brown sugar.  Cut in peanut butter and softened butter with two knives, a pastry blender or what worked best for us…hands.  The mixture should end up crumbly…see photo of the topping above. Set aside.

For the cake: In a large mixing bowl, combine flour through salt; whisk together to disperse all of the ingredients and get out any brown sugar clumps.  Melt the butter in the microwave and let cool a bit.  In a large liquid measuring cup, pour in the milk and oil.  Slowly add the cooled butter and whisk into the milk mixture.  The butter will clump up a bit, but that is ok.  In your lefter over butter bowl, crack in the egg and beat.  Add your egg to your milk mixture and add the vanilla.  Whisk together.

Add the butter and milk mixture into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.  Combine using a rubber spatula or such just until mixed together and moistened.  Don’t overmix.  Pour into the prepared cake pan.  Dollop teaspoons of the jelly over the batter.  See photo above.  Then sprinkle the streusel on top of the jelly and bake for 40-45 minutes.

I was able to tell when it was ready by jiggling the pan a bit.  At first, the cake seemed to jiggle with the pan…not ready. Then, I let it bake for the full 45 minutes and did the jiggle test and it was firm…ready.  Let it cool for about ten minutes before serving because the jelly is burning hot straight out of the oven, but tastes delicious!  One scalded tongue was worth it for me!  😉