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Vanilla Oat Flour Cake is Vegan, Gluten-free and uses just a handful of basic ingredients to create a fluffy moist special cake! You’ll appreciate that it’s egg-free and indulgently delicious for anyone!
This recipe is also Ancestral, so can be made “soaked” or as a soured-dough cake (which means: extra nutritious and easy to digest), and it’s VAD-friendly.
Jump to RecipeIngredients in Vanilla Oat Flour Cake
This recipe has only 8 easy ingredients:
- oat flour
- oat yogurt (or any probiotic yogurt of choice) — I like to make my own (recipe here) because the ingredients are much better, and the making it homemade is much more economical.
- coconut sugar (or preferred granulated sweetener such as maple sugar or dehydrated cane juice)
- water
- avocado oil (or for non-vegan, it’s okay to use melted butter)
- pure vanilla extract
- baking powder
- sea salt
How to make Oat Flour Cake
Oat Flour Cake is simple to assemble:
- Stir together dry ingredients in large bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients.
- Mix the wet into the dry, and pour into prepared cake pans.
- Bake.
This is one fast easy recipe for a special dessert treat!
Preparing the cake pans may take you as long as assembling the batter. 😉
Cake pans: which size and how to prepare
To prepare the cake pans, decide if you want one large cake, informally baked in a 9×13″ dish and frosted without first unmolding.
Or, use two cake pans for a layer cake.
In this case, you’ll grease the cake pans, and line each with a cut-out circle of parchment paper, to make unmolding the cakes easy after they’ve baked and cooled.
How to decorate Vanilla Oat Flour Cake
In the photographs you see, I used three components to finish the cake:
- Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting — The texture and flavor of this go great with the tender crumb of the cake (so delicious together!!). Just look in the Notes section below the recipe, and I provide both a Vegan dairy-free recipe and a dairy version of Chocolate Whipped Cream. You may also use any other frosting recipe you love too, of course. But I do recommend this one!
- Chocolate Ganache — One of life’s great pleasures, this Vegan condiment is good on so many things, and great for embellishing cakes. It’s super fast to make, which makes it a great tool for decorating. Just 5 minutes. Find Chocolate Ganache HERE.
- Easy Caramel Sauce — Definitely one of my favorite recipes! Also, super fast, rich and delicious. Easy Caramel Sauce (HERE) can’t be beat and is great for decorating this or any cake.
How to make Oat Flour Cake Ancestral: “soaked” batter
Whole grain flours, like oat flour, contain two anti-nutrients that limit the amount of nutrition we can get from the grains: phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. These anti-nutrients inhibit mineral absorption and are rough on our digestive process.
Soaking batter with an acidic medium, like yogurt or vinegar, before baking, neutralizes some or most of the phytic acid. And, baking deactivates the enzyme inhibitors.
Soaking is easy to do and feels encouraging, when you realize what you’re doing for your body!
To soak: You combine the oat flour in this recipe with the yogurt in the recipe (non-dairy, for vegan), which is an acidic medium. You then let the mixture “soak” for 7 hours or overnight. Finally these ingredients get mixed with the remaining ingredients, scooped into their pans and baked!
Your Oat Flour Cake is now extra nutritious and gentle to digest.
If you choose to make your caked “soaked”, you’ll need to plan one day in advance. Start the soaking process the day before you plan to serve.
Oat Flour Cake
Equipment
- two 8" cake pans OR one 9x13" cake pan
- electric handheld mixer or similar (not necessary, but ideal)
- oven
- parchment paper to line cake pans if you plan to unmold for layer cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 cup oat yogurt or other yogurt of choice
- 1 cup coconut sugar , maple sugar or other granulated sweetener of choice (it's okay to use dehydrated cane juice)
- 6 Tablespoons water
- ¼ cup avocado oil (If you're not vegan, it's also okay to use melted and slightly cooled butter here.)
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder (Be sure to use double-acting baking powder for the soaked version of this recipe, in Notes, below.)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Grease 2 8" cake pans, then line with cut out circles of parchment paper, or grease one 9x13" pan. Set aside.
- In large bowl, stir together dry ingredients: oat flour, granulated sweetener of choice, baking powder and sea salt.
- In small bowl or liquid measuring cup, measure liquid ingredients: yogurt, water and fat of choice.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Use a handheld mixer to stir together completely without over-mixing.
- Transfer batter to prepared cake pan(s). (If making the soaked/sourdough version, see the secipe Notes below at this step.)
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes if baking 2 smaller cakes or 30 minutes if one larger cake. Test with toothpick inserted into the center to check for doneness. Cake will be golden all over, springy to the touch and toothpick inserted will come out clean or with a couple of dry crumbs adhering.
- Cool completely on rack before proceeding. If creating a layer cake, thump cake pans upside down gently to remove cakes, the first one onto your serving plate, the second onto your cooling rack. I find these cakes to be a little fragile. If one happens to break while unmolding, it will not show or matter once it's frosted, so just gently push together the broken spot and proceed. If creating a sheet cake, you can just frost it in the pan, and serve from there.
- Frost first cake. Top with second. Frost the top and sides of entire cake. Decorate as desired. You can serve it right away, but ideally it's best to refrigerate for a few hours, and then serve. For Chocolate Whipped Cream recipe that's shown in photos, see recipe Notes below.
Notes
Soaked/Sourdough Variation
To make the soaked version of this recipe, you'll need two days. So plan ahead, and make the batter the day before you plan to serve the cake.EASIEST SOAKING METHOD
If you'd like your oat flour to be "pre-digested", extra nutritious and gentle to digest, it's really easy to make this batter soaked, because there is already (a lot of) probiotic yogurt in the batter! 🙂 Here's how:- After Step 5 in the main recipe above, your batter will be in the cake pan(s).
- Set the cake pan(s) aside in a warm room (or on a low heat mat like is used for sprouting seeds), loosely covered, for 7 hours or overnight.*
- Now proceed with Step 6 in the main recipe above (bake!).
MORE THOROUGH SOAKING METHOD
If you want to be extra sure your oats are pre-digested, you can soak the flour and yogurt separately before mixing together the rest of the batter, and soak for up to 24 hours. In this case, do not follow any of the mixing instructions in the main recipe above. Instead... Here's how:- Use a large bowl and mixer to combine flour, yogurt and water. Cover loosely, and soak for up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven and prepare pans as outlined above in the main recipe.
- Add remaining liquid ingredients to bowl: oil (or butter) and vanilla.
- In smaller bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients: coconut sugar, baking powder and sea salt.
- Add dry ingredients to batter. Use mixer to combine well, without over-mixing.
- Proceed with Step 5 in main recipe above: pour batter into prepared pans, and bake.
Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting recipe
Choose Vegan or Dairy Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting below. Both recipes are really easy, and REALLY delicious.VEGAN
To make Vegan dairy-free Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting, use this recipe, and frost your cake right before serving.DAIRY
To make Chocolate Whipped Cream frosting with heavy cream, follow the recipe below. Frost your cake a few hours before (minimum), and chill in the fridge before serving, for best results, but it's okay to serve right away if necessary. INGREDIENTS- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup powdered coconut sugar (To make this or any powdered sugar, just blend sugar in your coffee grinder or high-speed blender, until powdered.)
- Place a metal mixing bowl and beaters in the fridge for an hour, or in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the bowl and beaters. Add heavy cream, cocoa powder and powdered coconut sugar.
- Beat with electric mixer for 4 to 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form.
- Frost cake. (Whipped Cream Frosting doesn't spread on as smoothly as a buttercream, but with a little patience, it does well ... and tastes lovely with this cake!)
Nutrition
You can Pin this recipe here:
Similar Gluten-free, Vegan recipes I think you’ll enjoy:
- Gluten-free Vegan Oat Bread (No potato, no yeast, no flax and no gums)
- Easy Gluten-free Rice Bread (No potato, no yeast, no flax and no gums)
- Carob Muffins (Paleo)
- Nutritious Bean & Oat Waffles
- Keto Vegan Bread Rolls
- Instant Pot Buckwheat Porridge
- Keto Strawberry Bread
Sally Avery says
Hi Megan,
Wow! This looks yummy! I’ve had two failed attempts at oat yogurt, but I thought you said something about using vinegar for the pre-soaking process. Would apple cider vinegar work, and is the method the same as with oat yogurt?
Megan says
Hi Sally, oh no about the yogurt! Let me know if you want to trouble shoot about it. I’d be happy to talk about the details. Re soaking the oats, yes, great question: you could use ACV in place of yogurt if you use a combination of 2 Tablespoons ACV and, for the rest of the full quantity of yogurt: use oat milk. I have actually done this, and the cake turns out well. So to be fully clear, that’s 1 cup oat milk MINUS 2 tablespoons … and then use 2 Tablespoons ACV.
Sally Avery says
Perfect! Thank you. I will make this recipe with the ACV pre-soak. One more question. To keep the frosting VAD, would I substitute carob powder for the cocoa powder?
Megan says
You’re welcome, great. 🙂 Re carob ~ I haven’t tried the whipped cream frosting yet with carob. It will most likely be great and fine, but I can’t say for sure. Good question. Let me know if you try it before I do; otherwise I’ll update you and plan to make it this week with carob to be sure.
Megan says
Hi Sally, just following up! I just made the Carob Whipped Cream, and it turned out beautifully. The carob behaves exactly like cocoa in the recipe; so yes, it works, and it’s delicious. 🙂
Kristen says
This cake turned out amazing! Moist and delicious. Thank you!
Megan says
You’re welcome, Kristen, thanks for sharing your results. I’m so happy you loved the cake! 🙂
Anjali says
I couldn’t believe that this oat flour cake was both vegan and gluten free!! It was so delicious and turned out moist and super fluffy! Everyone I served it to loved it!
Megan says
YAY, Anjali, so happy to hear this, and thanks so much for sharing!
Denay DeGuzman says
This oat flour cake is so delicious! I just shared the recipe with my niece. It’ll be a great addition to her gluten-free recipe arsenal.
Megan says
Great, Denay, I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake, and so sweet to hear you shared it! 🙂 We’ve been baking it on the regular, too, and just had leftovers with breakfast LOL. Thanks for coming back to comment.
Beth says
What a great post! I recently started eating gluten free and enjoyed learning about “soaking’ the batter and the reasons and benefits for doing that! This cake is a must try – Yum!
Megan says
Great, Beth, soo glad!
Annissa says
This cake looks so delicious! Very detailed and informative recipe!
Megan says
Thanks, Annissa!
Judy Borrego-Mendieta says
Haven’t tried yet – won’t put frosting on (for Type II Diabetic friend) – can you tell me the nutritional data WITHOUT the frosting. I’m hopeful it will be something she can enjoy when she is craving something sweet. Thanks. Will comment and rate if I make depending on your reply.
Best Regards,
Judy
Megan says
Hi Judy, I also have a lot of keto cake recipes on the blog, that might be a better choice for your diabetic friend? This Keto Yellow Cake is so good: https://eatbeautiful.net/best-keto-yellow-cake-coconut-flour-primal/ I would not feed this cake to a diabetic person because it has a whole cup of sugar, even though coconut sugar is better than white sugar (almost half on the glycemic index). But if you still want to know the carbs for this cake, the net carbs are about 25 per serving without the frosting.
Judy Borrego-Mendieta says
Megan – thank you for your prompt reply and new suggested recipe. I ended up making the cake yesterday and really enjoyed it. I will let her try a slice – 1/16 and let her know it is about 12-13 carbs for that smaller portion. I really like the consistency. Thanks again for your help. Regards, Judy
Megan says
You’re welcome, Judy. I’m so glad you liked the cake and figured out the portion size that will work well for your friend. 🙂
Willow Jordan says
Love this recipe. Was perfect for my daughter who has an egg and wheat allergy. Not sure if this is a silly question but how long can you store this in the fridge for ? Thank you!!
Megan says
Yay, Willow, that’s awesome! Thanks so much for sharing. 4 days in the fridge, covered, is great. It’ll be best the first 3 days. 🙂
I A says
Wow, the cake was amazing. I didn’t ferment it. Still the consistency and depth of flavor was very good. However it turned out too sweet because I used sweetened oat yogurt (I couldn’t find another kind.) So I opted not to use the buttercream and used a vegan lemon curd in between layers and coconut whipped cream. So the flavor of the dessert turned out very balanced. Thank you!
Megan says
What you made sounds awesome and lovely! (Yum layers of lemon curd!) Thanks so much for sharing, and I’m so glad you loved the cake recipe! 🙂 🙂
Ray says
Could you use macadamia oil instead of avocado oil? After I read about the possible negatives of avocado oil on human DNA I got paniced as I do and do not want to use it if I do not have to.
Megan says
Hi Ray, do you have a link to what you read about avocado oil and human DNA? I work with the most knowledgeable doctor I’ve ever found on physiology and root causes, and he does allow refined avocado oil. With that being said, yes, you can absolutely use macadamia nut oil in this recipe. 🙂
Debi says
Hi Megan!
I’m excited to say I actually tried making this. I usually don’t have ingredients for new baking adventures, but this time I did.
I ran into a problem though and was hoping you could help me. It turned out really gloppy. I normally weigh out my ingredients, so I know for sure that was the issue with the oat flour. (Tried even googling the weight for oats, then ground fresh, and it still didn’t turn out).
Would you happen to know what the weight is in grams for the oat flour? Thanks kindly!!
Megan says
I’m sorry to hear this, Debi! I have started weighing (and adding weights to) my newest gluten-free recipes, but was not yet when I published this recipe. I will try to make it again soon and add the weights. 🙂
Debi says
Ok. Thx ☺️
Megan says
You’re welcome! 🙂
Gauri says
Hi! May I ask if you could do a similar cake subbing some of the oat flour for a ,mix of Almond and coconut? Also in baking is there a Keto or paleo sub for potato starch?
Megan says
Hi Gauri!, I’m sorry because I haven’t tried the sub with almond and coconut, so I can’t say. Potato starch can sometimes be subbed with tapioca starch.