This is a recipe from Gill Rapley’s book Baby Led Weaning Cookbook, which you can grab here. A full in-depth review will follow shortly on the blog. So far, everything I have cooked from it has been a success and it really gives you plenty of options.
Now, this recipe came just in handy for me cause I had this leftover oatmeal that I had bought a while ago. I admit, the fact that it is iron fortified was the thing that won me over. After I had a taste and Emma had quite a few breakfasts based on it, we decided not to continue eating it as such.
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If you are wondering what oatmeal is, it’s practically the same thing as rolled oats. Mine was in powder form, though, because it was meant for children (?!?). Why would you blitz oats in a blender anyway? Children can handle the texture of normal oats just fine.
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So if you do have some forgotten oatmeal somewhere in your pantry and you are tired of cooking porridge every time, then give this baked oatmeal cake a go.
What do you need to make this recipe? A 500 g (1 lb) loaf tin. If you’re wondering if it’s worth the investment, you can also make puddings in it or homemade bread.Β
What’s in this baked oatmeal cake? You have cereal (the oatmeal), fruits (apple and/or banana, dried fruit), dairy (the milk) and protein (the egg). All four food groups covered at once!
It keeps well in an airtight container for a couple of days, so that’s breakfast or snack sorted!
Make sure you use an apple with plenty of flavour (and maybe add the overripe banana as well), as in sweet enough to give the cake some flavour. Of course, the cinnamon does it’s thing too, but it can’t make up for the sweetness of the fruits. I left out the raisins because I didn’t have enough and didn’t want to waste time prepping those as well.
This baked oatmeal cake makes a great finger food for babies who are just starting on their solids and a good way for them to practice that pincer grasp.
Happy cooking! Let me know in the comments if your little ones enjoyed it! Also, sharing is caring, even more so for us busy moms, so please spread the word on social media!
#ditchthebabycereal

Prep Time | 20 minutes |
Cook Time | 45-50 minutes |
Servings |
servings
|
- 2 tbsp oil plus extra for greasing
- 1 large apple very sweet
- 80 g raisins or other dried fruit
- few pinches cinnamon
- 1-2 tbsp water
- 200 g oatmeal
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 220 ml milk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 ripe banana mashed
Ingredients
optional ingredients
|
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- Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease your tin.
- Peel, core and slice the apple; put it in a small pan, with the raisins, a pinch of cinnamon and the water and cook for 10 minutes until the apple is soft. Mash it up and mix well with the raisins. (Alternatively, you can put these into the microwave instead of a pan). What I did was I just grated the apple through a small sized grater and turned it into applesauce basically.
- Put everything else into a bowl and mix. Add the apple mixture and combine.
- Pour the mixture into your tin and sprinkle some more cinnamon on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes (this is the original recipe; however I left it in for about 40 minutes and it still was a bit on the wet side. Try it with a skewer and go from there).
- Leave to cool down as it's easier to cut. Enjoy with a glass of milk on the side.
This looks delicious!
Thank you, Millie!
Does this freeze ok?
Hi, Amy! Sorry to reply so late π I don’t know if it freezes ok or not, I haven’t tried, to be honest.
Can I bake this using formula milk ?
Hi Neelima! I haven’t tried it, but I assume you can. π
Thanks for the recipe, I’m going to try to bake this tonight. I have an 8 month old boy who still doesn’t have any teeth LOL. This recipe sounds easy enough, and I’m kind of confused on what type of pan I’m supposed to use. You said 1 in, is there anyway you could send me a pic of what yours looks like? Please lol
Hi Katy, itβs just a normal loaf pan if you have it, or you can bake this as muffins or any type of tart/pie pan really.
This recipe did not work for me. Too runny.
Sorry to hear, I will revisit the quantities and have a look.
Hey this is such a nice recipe..wanna try for my 6month old baby… can I give him this? Not sure if baking powder can be given to babies..so just asking.
Thanks
Hi Shivani,
Yes, you can give this to a 6 month old. Hope you like it π
I made this this morning for my 7.5mo, and I added 4 frozen peach slices, chopped, to the apples. It seemed more milk than anything else so I added 2.5x the called for amount of oatmeal, and sprinkled a little more on top. It’s in the oven now, and smells delicious!
Hi Toma, sounds like you made something delicious π