If you want to bake a new cake for Christmas - this Spiced Oat Cake needs to be the cake. This cake is the perfect combination of warm flavors - cinnamon and nutmeg, oatmeal and brown sugar. Plus the most delicious cream cheese frosting you've ever tasted.
Please note: This is not a paid review and it's my complete and honest opinion on the book and recipe I chose. I am publishing this recipe with the permission from the author.
So first up - a confession. Back in September, Alyx from Sugar by Alyx, asked for volunteers to try her new cake cookbook and share a recipe. I immediately volunteered. I love to support other bakers in any way I can.
Besides, Alyx self-published this book and I'm always in awe and admiration of anybody willing to work that hard for their dreams. Publishing is hard work and I always strive to be a cheerleader for entrepreneurs! 🎉
Fast foward to a short time later when Alyx sent the book to me. But when it arrived, it was a busy week and I couldn't immediately dive into it.
Then when things slowed down, I had an afternoon set aside to do the cake. But I couldn't find the book. I looked and looked and looked that afternoon with no luck. To say I was horrified would have been a massive understatement.
I have no excuses - it was just one of those things that happened. As a homeschooling family, we have hundreds (maybe thousands?) of books in the house and it accidentally got placed in the wrong stack of books one day when we were cleaning up the homeschool work.
It only took a couple of days to find it, but by then, things were busy again and I didn't have an immediate block of time to work on it.
Then without warning, my health issues came front and center. And for many weeks now I've had doctor appointment after doctor appointment. I had the note written on my to-do list (along with half a dozen other commitments) and I just never could get anything marked off the list.
It was frustrating and disappointing. But most of all, I felt terrible for not fulfilling my promise to Alyx. So this past weekend I didn't have any cake orders and since it's my last free weekend before my surgery, I determined in my heart that unless God intervened, I was baking this cake.
And with Sarah's help, we got it done! Yay!!
I haven't baked any other cakes from the book, but I have to tell you... if you love scratch baking and unique flavor combinations - you need to add this cake book to your collection.
Here's Alyx's description of Sugar Redefined:
Sugar Redefined is a book that is filled with 25 odd yet satisfyingly delicious cake recipes that you will be dying to try. Each recipes is unique with a twist. Whether it's herbs, spicies, fruit or spirits, there is a bound to be something different that will have your taste buds exploding with a new take on the word sugar.
Even for a girl who rarely bakes totally from scratch, the recipes are very doable and not intimidating at all. All of the recipes are designed for 6" cakes which is a great size for most family gatherings or small paries.
Also, there are pictures for every recipe (which I love) and there are sections in the beginning of the book explaining basic cake tools and techniques along with a description of most staple cake ingredients.
Sugar Redefined has all the information a beginning baker or cake decorator would need, but with recipes that are unique enought to be appealing to the most experienced and sophisticated baker.
Spiced Oat Cake...
I was surprised and delighted that the Spiced Oat Cake was so easy! Even better - it was delicious!! I shared with our Sunday school class and only brought home one small sliver.
So today, I'm sharing the Spiced Oat Cake recipe with you along with an encouragement to go buy this book! You can get a printed version or the ebook and you can have it in time to bake a new, unique cake for Christmas 🎄
I didn't do anything fancy with the decorating, but this cake was fancy all on it's own! It reminded me of carrot cake maybe - without the carrots? Or a warm, soft molasses cookie... without the molasses 😉
Bottom line - it was all kinds of delicious. I can almost promise you that one slice won't be enough.
Without any more chatter - go buy Sugar Redefined. And if you have to wait a few days for it to arrive, go ahead and make this Spiced Oat cake while you wait!!
PrintRecipe
Spiced Oat Cake
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
Cake:
- ¾ cup flour
- 1 ½ cup oat flour
- ½ cup oats
- 1 ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup milk
Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the oat flour, place some oats in a food processor and blend up until you have a fine powder. It doesn't have to be completely ground.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch cake pans (I use non-stick baking spray, but you could also spray and line).
In a bowl, combine the flours, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix together.
In another bowl, combine the oil, eggs, milk and vanilla and whisk together until fully combined.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until well combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the three cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes then carefully flip onto a cooking rack to finish cooling.
For the buttercream, combine the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl and mix until the powdered sugar is mostly mixed in. Increase the speed and whip until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
See notes below!
Notes
Please note - the batter was extremely loose for me. I was worried that we had made a mistake because it seemed too watery. But we baked as it was listed and it turned out terrific - except the layers were very soft.
For the frosting, I only had salted butter on hand and it worked beautifully, but I've listed the ingredients exactly as Alyx has them.
I recommend chilling the layers until they're cold before stacking and frosting. As I mentioned in the first note, my layers were a little too soft to handle at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 35
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Marlena
Rose, I may be technologically challenged, but when I click the link it only gives me the option for a kindle version. I don’t have a kindle, so I would want a hardcover book. How do I purchase this book in paper form? Would love to see more and support anyone with the bravery to do things on their own!
Rose
Maybe try this link? https://amzn.to/2QNxdkB Both options should be available on either link, but maybe this will help!
Cora Barkhuizen
Hi Rose,
Thank you for sharing the spiced oat cake. It look delicious and I am always on a run for new receipes.
One question I live in SA and I am not sure what the oat flour exactly is. Can I liquidice some oats? Will it works? Please I like to read your answer.
Then I like to wish you and your family a wonderful 2019.
Thank you
Rose
Yes, you can put oatmeal in a food processor and pulverize it to make oat flour!
Jessica
Is it possible to make this into a two layer cake? If so, what should I do to do that?