You know when you making something so good you can’t help but say out loud “Man! This is REALLY good!” everything time you take a helping? Yeah … that happened to me last week.

It was my husband’s birthday and I wanted to make something a little different for his birthday cake. Since I always make cupcakes for my kids I wanted to make him a “grown-up cake.” Taking consideration his current health kick and how he always approves of anything oatmeal, I decided to do my own take on something similar I saw on one of my favorite baking blogs, Beyond Frosting.

Actually I’ve been wanting to try her recipe for months but they don’t sell Oatmeal Cream Pies in Trinidad & Tobago so I picked up a box couple of weeks ago during my last family visit to Kentucky and packed them in my suitcase. I was supposed to keep seven pies for the recipe but only three survived my family’s snack attacks. (Those things seriously bring back years of school lunch memories.) I ended up not finding marshmallow cream or spice cake mix so I did what I usually do and improvised.

The result was an amazing Spice Cake with Oatmeal Buttercream Frosting. I think the three oatmeal pies and just sticking to a buttercream base was the perfect combination for a nice frosting. Adelaide even begged for a piece about twice a day (and half the time she even ate the cake and not just the frosting).

CAKE

• 1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
• 3 Large eggs
• ¾ cup Buttermilk (I made my using 3/4 cup skim milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice)
• ½ cup Vegetable oil
• ¾ cup Sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Nutmeg
• 2 tbsp Light brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray and flour your pan(s).  I did a double layer cake so I lined the bottom of my 9″ round cake pans with parchment paper cut to fit the bottom and sprayed/floured the sides of the pans really well.
2. Combine cake mix with eggs, buttermilk, oil and sour cream. Mix until it is just combined.
3. Add vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Mix until well blended.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick you insert into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Let cakes cool completely in pans on a wire rack.
6. Remove cakes from pans and frost.

FROSTING

• 3 Oatmeal Cream Pies (or more depending on your preference for texture)
• 1½ C Unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream (adjust as needed)

DIRECTIONS

1. To prepare the frosting, start by putting the Oatmeal Cream Pies in a food processor or chopper to cut them into tiny pieces.
2. Soften the butter to room temperature (you want it to be slightly soft but not melted). Whip butter in mixer using the paddle attachment or by hand using a hand mixer (that’s what I have) for several minutes until butter is fluffy and light in color.
3. Mix vanilla extract into butter.
4. Pour powdered sugar into mixing bowl two cups at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Add heavy whipping cream (or plain milk if that is what you have in your fridge — I use either depending on what I have) to meet your preference for thickness and beat into the frosting.
6. Add the Oatmeal Cream Pie crumbs and beat on low until incorporated.