Every cake recipe on Occasionally Eggs is made with spelt flour (so far) but I hadn’t yet shared a basic spelt cake recipe – here it is! This is a simple eight ingredient single-layer vanilla cake made with sifted spelt flour, muscovado sugar, olive oil, and plenty of vanilla. It’s not a basic or boring cake but it is a good cake to top with just about anything you like, or to turn into a layer cake.

Olive oil not only makes the cake more moist and tender, there’s also no sacrifice on flavour here since extra virgin olive oil boasts its own flavour profile. With the brown sugar, vanilla, yogurt, and spelt flour, there’s a good balance. This might not be a children’s birthday cake but it is great for anyone who wants a more interesting vanilla cake.

The slice pictured is topped with a dairy-free cream cheese frosting, which melts a lot faster than dairy cream cheese (but I can actually eat it, which is nice). It’s just cream cheese, dairy-free butter, honey, and vanilla. You could use any frosting you like, or whipped cream, or chocolate ganache, or serve without any additional topping.

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Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

This cake is made with light spelt flour, which you might see called white or sifted spelt – they’re all the same thing. These are my notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below with complete measurements and instructions.

• Spelt flour: use all light spelt flour for the lightest cake. If you want a whole grain spelt cake, go for it and use a mix or all whole grain spelt flour. Note that the cake will be a bit denser and heavier if you do.
• Eggs: three eggs bind and lift the cake. There is no vegan alternative for this recipe and it’s only been tested with eggs. If you want a vegan spelt cake, I recommend this lemon rhubarb cake instead (the rhubarb can be omitted or replaced).
• Oil: I always use extra virgin olive oil and like the flavour. If you want a more neutral flavour use a different oil that’s liquid at room temperature. I don’t recommend coconut oil and haven’t tested with butter. Replacing the oil with butter would probably make for a slightly dry cake.
• Sugar: I’ve tested with muscovado and cane sugar, and both are good, but the flavour is better with muscovado. You can use white sugar for a less expensive alternative but note that the cake will be a little plain if you do.
• Yogurt: dairy or soya yogurt. Other non-dairy yogurts tend to make the cake a little denser and a high-protein one is best. I always use plain soya yogurt for this recipe.
• Vanilla: lots of vanilla extract makes a big difference here. Substitute vanilla paste or powder, or a scraped vanilla bean, for the extract if preferred.

How to Make Spelt Cake

This is a one bowl recipe because the dry ingredients are sifted into the mixing bowl, removing any lumps and combining the dry ingredients. You must sift in the ingredients. If you don’t have a fine mesh sieve, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt in a separate bowl before adding.

Step 1: whisk the eggs until combined and foamy. Beating the eggs well helps to add air to the cake, so do a good job now.

Step 2: beat in the sugar, oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Make sure to whisk until the oil is fully incorporated and not separating at the top of the mixture. Use an electric mixer for the wet ingredients if needed.

Step 3: sift the dry ingredients into the bowl. You can see in the sieve how lumpy the flour is – light spelt flour tends to have a lot of little lumps in it and they’re hard to mix in to batter if not sifted out. This also ensures that you won’t get any little pockets of baking powder in your cake.

Step 4: stir until just combined. I start with a whisk and finish with a couple folds with a spatula to make sure it’s not over-mixed.

Step 5: pour the batter into a greased and lined cake tin. Instead of a round, I cut a square for the base of my tin to make less waste, but this doesn’t make a difference to the cake. It will release much more easily from the tin if the base is lined with parchment paper.

Step 6: bake until lightly golden, about half an hour. I’ve provided a wide range in timing in the recipe card because different types of pans make a difference in the time it takes for a cake to bake. Metal needs less time, glass and ceramic need more. It’s best to check with a wooden skewer or toothpick to know when the cake is ready.

Expert Tips for the Best Cake

• Don’t over mix: all cakes should be mixed with a light hand, and spelt even more so. It’s a delicate flour and if over-mixed the cake will be gummy and dense. A few small streaks of flour are completely fine.
• Keep the sugar: if you reduce the amount of sugar, the cake will be dry and bland. You can try it but know that it won’t taste like the cake described and pictured here.
• Cool fully: for the best texture, make sure the cake is fully cooled before serving. If you plan on icing or frosting it, the cake also needs to be fully cooled first.

More Spelt Flour Cake Recipes

All of the baking recipes – barring anything gluten-free – on Occasionally Eggs are made with 100% ancient grains like spelt. You won’t find any conventional white flour here.

• Chocolate Snack Cake – this is made with 100% whole grain spelt flour and sweetened partly with mashed banana. It’s just lightly sweet and good for snacking.
• Dairy-Free Carrot Cake – with sweet spices, caramel-like coconut sugar, and carrots (of course), this is what I request every year for my birthday.
• Apple Crumble Cake – a fantastic low profile cake with a streusel topping, made with both shredded apples and applesauce for a punchy apple flavour.
• Rhubarb Almond Cake – with spelt and almond flour, it’s a sturdy picnic cake for late spring.

If you make this Spelt Flour Cake or any other vegetarian dessert recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.