Old Fashioned Farmhouse Style Bundt Cake
This rustic farmhouse cake is a hearty cake filled with apples, oatmeal, raisins, brown sugar, buttermilk and more. It reminds you of an old fashioned cake you might find on a table in an old country house. This is a super filling cake and a recipe your family will love.
Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
I love the look of those rustic bundt cakes sitting on farm tables. You know, the kind you sometimes see in magazines or Instagram?
I always wonder what flavor they are and I just got this spark of an idea in my head to make one.
I figured a good old-fashioned country cake might contain some oats to make it hearty, brown sugar to deepen the flavor, buttermilk, apples, nuts and raisins.
I had a hard time deciding on raisins or cranberries, but I went with raisins although either would work here.
Let’s Talk About Some of The Ingredients in this Old Fashioned Farmhouse Cake:
Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: These are added to give the cake some heartiness. You’ll use the regular oats here, not steel cut and not minute oats.
Spices: This recipe calls for cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. The cinnamon is just enough to add a bit of flavor and enhance the oatmeal and the fruit.
Buttermilk: Now don’t worry, your cake will NOT taste like buttermilk. Buttermilk just helps make the cake moist and gives it good flavor. It’s good…just trust me. Also, look in the FAQ section for a sub if you need one.
The buttermilk will also be used in the glaze though so it’s best to use the real deal here, or the flavor and creaminess just won’t be as good.
Brown Sugar: I love how brown sugar just helps to deepen the flavor a bit and I find it makes the cake a little heartier.
Apples, Raisins and Walnuts: You definitely want to add in the fruit because that in combination with the oats and spices are what makes this cake. You can omit the walnuts if you don’t like nuts though or have allergies. (I totally get that because I’m allergic as well.)
The recipe card close to the end of this post will go into all the ingredients and amounts.
Mixing Method for this cake:
The mixing method for this cake could not be easier. You’ll just mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the liquid ingredients in another bowl.
You’ll pour the liquid into the dry and mix with an electric mixture just until it’s combined. Then you’ll stir in the apples, raisins and nuts.
Don’t worry though, I go into all the steps in the recipe card below.
Tips & FAQs for Making the Farmhouse Cake:
You’ll want to use the oats that say old fashioned rolled oats. Don’t use the minute oats and don’t use steel cut oats.
It’s best to use real buttermilk if you can get it. That will give your cake and glaze the best texture and flavor. If you absolutely can’t get it, then you can use this substitution, but please be aware that the results may be slightly different than if you’d used real buttermilk.
For every cup of buttermilk called for, add one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup. Add in milk to fill the measuring cup to 1 full cup. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes before using it.
You’ll want to pack it down into your measuring cup. (Now, don’t do that with your flour…just do that with the brown sugar.)
You can use any that you like, although I wouldn’t use red delicious as they seem to get a little mealy and mushy to me. I used honeycrisp apples.
First, make sure the apples are peeled and then chop them into cubes that are about half inch sized cubes. This doesn’t need to be exact, but make sure they aren’t chopped in large chunks or they’ll just sink to the bottom of the cake.
No, but it does give the cake a good flavor and works well with the apples, cinnamon and oats. If you really don’t like raisins, then you might try cranberries instead.
Yes, you absolutely can omit the nuts.
This cake is super moist and chunky will stick to the pan if it’s not greased well and floured.
If you try to turn the cake out of the pan too soon, it will fall apart on you. This cake has lots of fruit and oats and therefore needs time to set up.
You didn’t do anything wrong. Sometimes the confectioner’s sugar lumps up on you when you add it to the other ingredients. Just keep stirring and as it heats, most of that will dissolve.
You can also stir it with a whisk and that helps. If there are still a few lumps, just strain the glaze through a strainer and it will be just fine.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ok let’s get to the recipe!
**By the way, this recipe was developed and tested using volume measurements (cups etc.). I do this because most people are used to measuring, instead of weighing. You may use the metric converter button to see the weight (gram) measurements. Those numbers are estimates on weight. Your results may vary a bit if you use the weight measurements.
Farmhouse Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not steel cut or quick oats)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg optional
- 3 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (see FAQ section in the post)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, softened temperature)
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups chopped and peeled apples (Honeycrisp apples were used. Chop apples small)
- 1 cup raisins
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional, make sure these are chopped small)
For the buttermilk glaze:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (½ stick)
- 2 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoon buttermilk
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan very well.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add the whole eggs, egg yolk, vanilla extract, buttermilk, softened butter, vegetable oil, packed brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix very well with a whisk. Don't worry if your butter clumps up a bit.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with an electric mixer on medium just until the ingredients are well incorporated. Do not mix for a couple minutes. That's too long. Stop mixing once the ingredients are well combined. It's okay if there are a few small lumps.
- Add in the chopped apples, raisins and optional walnuts and mix by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
- Pour into the prepared bundt pan an bake for approximately 60-65 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let sit on a wire rack, in the pan for about 40 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely on the rack. This cake needs to sit in the pan for around 40 minutes before removing it or it will stick.
For the glaze:
- Once the cake has cooled to almost room temperature, make the glaze.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- When the butter is completely melted, turn the heat to low and immediately add in the brown sugar, vanilla and buttermilk.
- Stir until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
- Turn the heat off and add in the confectioner's sugar and stir well. If it's clumpy, just keep stirring until most of the clumps are dissolved. The rest will dissolve as it sits for a bit or you can use a whisk to mix them away. If there are a few stray clumps, just pour it through a sifter.
- Set the glaze aside (not in the fridge) to cool for about 10 minutes until it thickens and firms up a bit. Make sure to stir it occasionally as it cools down. It will crystallize a bit, but that's okay. Stirring it occasionally helps with this.
- Spoon the glaze over the cake. If the glaze thickens up too much, you can heat it for a short time in the microwave, but only for a few seconds.
- Let the glaze set and firm up on the cake for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Video
Notes
in it. It’s still moist, but just be aware that you’ll definitely need to eat it with a fork or spoon on a plate. You can leave this cake out of the fridge for a couple hours, but store any leftovers in the fridge. To serve leftovers, cut a slice and microwave it for about 10-15 seconds.
Nutritional values are an estimate. Make sure to check out the TIPS & FAQs for this recipe in the blog post, which may answer questions about substitutions. *This recipe card may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition
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Ariel
Made this cake almost exactly as directed (see notes at the end), except I did not frost it. My husband said it was hands-down the best cake he’s ever had in his life. The whole thing was gone in a day. I think the frosting would be good, but absolutely not necessary. I did follow instructions to let it cool in the pan for 40 minutes, it was still warm for the first slice but it didn’t crumble. Minor changes – I used regular Quaker Oat (from Costco) as that’s what I had on hand. I’m baking at altitude, about 5,500 feet, so I reduced the white sugar by about 1/4 cup. I covered the cake lightly with foil for the last ten minutes or so of baking to prevent over browning. Absolutely the most delicious cake we’ve ever had and we’ll be making it again!
Kara Jane
Ariel, what a wonderful review…thank you so much! I’m so glad you guys loved it and thank you for the high altitude adjustments…that will help others I’m sure. This cake is one of my favorites and I’m so glad to know others love it as well. 🙂
Alicia
This is a delicious recipe! I tweaked it a bit, using Penzeys Baking Spice instead of cinnamon and fresh nutmeg. I used Honey Crisp apples, a mixture of yellow raisins and dried cranberries, a mixture of toasted walnuts and pecans and cut back a couple of tablespoons on the brown and white sugars, which didn’t detract from the flavor. For the frosting, I substituted 2 tablespoons of maple sugar for the brown sugar and added about 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring, which complements the cake very nicely. It’s very tasty the next day too!
Kara Jane
Wonderful substitutions and additions! That sounds so good! So glad you liked it 🙂
Kathy
Just served this to friends and everyone loved it. The flavors were perfect. Also, the cake was so moist and was great for the beginning of Fall. My kitchen smelled so good while the cake was baking.
Kara Jane
Kathy, I’m so glad everyone liked it! Thanks for the great review. 🙂