Oat Flour Chocolate Cake -

4.03 from 35 votes

Oat Flour Chocolate Cake

Fluffy and moist, this perfect gluten free oat flour chocolate cake features a hint of coffee, buttermilk, olive oil, and brown sugar. Frost it with your favorite frosting for a decadent treat.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: servings

Calories: 391kcal

Author: Nicole Spiridakis

Ingredients

2 ⅓ cups gluten-free oat flour (280 grams)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh brewed hot coffee

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Lightly grease two 8-inch pans with at least 2-inch sides with olive oil and line them with parchment paper rounds. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 ⅓ cups gluten-free oat flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup sugar, ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 eggs at room temperature, 1 cup buttermilk, and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Stir and whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir very well to combine. Stir in the 1 cup fresh brewed hot coffeeand stir until the batter is smooth and combined.
Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans and preheat oven to 350°F. Let batter rest while the oven heats, about 15 minutes.
Place pans in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, checking at 45 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the edges are starting to pull away from the sides of the pans. Remove from oven and let cake cool in the pans on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool fully. The cake will be quite tender and soft - yum! - so it's a good idea to refrigerate it before frosting or do a crumb coat.
Frost cake with or your frosting of choice, either as a layer cake or frost one layer and freeze the other for another time. Cake will keep well wrapped in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Notes

Rest the batter - Don't skip the step of resting the batter for 10 minutes! This is what helps the cake have such a plushy, fluffy crumb because the liquid helps to hydrate the oat flour, which then results in a better structure after it's baked.
Make it dairy-free - In the cake batter, substitute non-dairy milk or non-dairy yogurt for the yogurt. In the frosting, use non-dairy yogurt for the Greek yogurt.
Make it refined sugar-free - Easily make this cake refined sugar-free by swapping coconut sugar for the brown sugar in the cake, and experiment with using maple syrup or honey in the frosting. Note that you'll use less of a liquid sweetener than the powdered sugar.
Make it egg-free - I have not experimented with making oat flour cake without eggs, but you could try substituting two flax eggs for the eggs, or even applesauce.
Bake as cupcakes - If you wish, you can make this recipe as cupcakes! Line a cupcake tin with liners, fill them ⅔ full, and bake the cupcakes for about 20-25 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
Try different frostings - This cake is a lovely jumping-off place for all sorts of flavor combinations. You could top it with a chocolate glaze, cream cheese frosting, a drizzle of caramel sauce, fluffy chocolate buttercream, or a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
Add different citrus - Swap the lemon zest in the icing for lime, orange, grapefruit, or mandarin zest for a flavor twist.
Make it a layer cake - Double the recipe and bake it in two parchment-lined 9-inch baking pans. Fill and frost the cake with jam, frosting, or whatever else you can think of.
Add fruit - This would make a lovely fruit cake! Stir in 1 cup of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or a combination into the batter.

Nutrition