Chocolate Oat Flour Cake

I wanted to make a healthier dessert, so I swapped out wheat flour for oats instead. I ground the oats into flour and added it to the batter. The first time, I made a big mistake by adding water to the oat flour right away—it soaked up the water immediately, and once I added the other ingredients, it became tough to mix smoothly. After baking, there were visible white spots from the oats, which didn’t affect the taste but did impact the appearance.

On my second attempt, I mixed the water in at the very end, after combining all the other ingredients, which resulted in a smooth batter with no spots in the baked cake—making it look much better. While the texture was more crumbly than with regular flour, and it might not work well for something like a birthday cake, it tasted great. No one even guessed it was made with oat flour!

If you're using oat flour in this recipe, keep the 100ml of hot water as it's necessary to help hydrate the oat flour since it absorbs more liquid compared to regular wheat flour. Oat flour lacks gluten, so the cake will have a more tender , crumbly texture. You can expect the cake to be softer and slightly denser.

If you want to replace the oat flour with cake flour, reduce the amount of liquid (hot water) to about 60-70ml since cake flour contains gluten and doesn’t absorb as much water.

The presence of gluten in cake flour helps hold the cake together, so the texture will be less crumbly and more structured than with oat flour.

Ingredients:

- 140g oat flour

- 50g cocoa powder

- 8g baking powder

- 100ml hot water

- 100g brown sugar

- 80g vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)

- 2 large eggs

- 30g almonds (sliced ​​or chopped)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the pan:

- Line a 6-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray or a little oil to prevent sticking. Set it aside.

2. Mix dry ingredients:

- In a large bowl, combine oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and brown sugar. Mix them together evenly with a whisk, breaking up any lumps.

3. Add wet ingredients:

- Add oil and eggs to dry ingredients. Begin stirring the mixture gently to combine. The batter will thicken at this point.

4. Add hot water:

- While stirring the batter, slowly pour in hot water. Continue stirring until the batter is smooth and free of lumps. Hot water helps dissolve the sugar and creates a more even texture.

5. Prepare to bake:

- Pour the batter into the prepared 6-inch pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle chopped or sliced ​​almonds over the top of the batter.

6. Bake the cake:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Once preheated, bake the cake for 40-45 minutes. To check if it's done, insert a toothpick or skewer into the center of the cake - if it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs, the cake is ready.

7. Cool and serve:

- Allow cake to cool completely in pan on wire rack before slicing. Once cooled, you may choose to drizzle melted chocolate on top for an extra touch. Slice and serve.