Ocean Prime Warm Butter Cake Recipe
Decadent, warm, all at once creamy sweet and tangy, this cake recipe might be the most opulent you’ve ever tried. The technique is a little more challenging than that of your average cake. The baked cakes soak in a buttermilk mixture before being unmolded onto the plate. But the extra effort is worth it.
What is Ocean Prime butter cake?
If you’ve never experienced Ocean Prime, it’s an upscale chain of chic, American restaurants and lounges that puts a modern spin on the old steakhouse. I know that most people visit this beloved steak and seafood chain for the prime cuts and lobster bisque. But for those of us smart enough to eat lightly and save room for dessert, Ocean Prime has an aphrodisiac secret waiting at the end of the meal. It’s the Ocean Prime Warm Butter Cake.
Now, if you’ve ever eaten at Ocean Prime and stuck around for dessert, you know what I’m talking about. But you don’t have to have dined at this steak palace to appreciate the finesse of a buttery rich, hot cake served with plump, scarlet berries. You don’t even need to plan a meal if you’re going to make Ocean Prime Warm Butter Cake. It’s one of those skip-straight-to-dessert, taste bud-tickling, make-me-your-love-slave recipes.
And since I happen to know an Ocean Prime publicist, I was able to wrangle a copy of this recipe for every crumb-licking, aphrodisiac-loving baker’s home cooking pleasure. (It pays to have friends in high places.)
Try Next: Check out my crème fraîche frosting recipe
What makes an aphrodisiac cake recipe?
As for what makes Ocean Prime Warm Butter Cake an aphrodisiac, it starts with vanilla extract. Vanilla–even just the aroma of vanilla–is proven to be an aphrodisiac. Read more about the power of vanilla extract to help you hit a home run in the bedroom.
A stick of butter might not seem like an aphrodisiac-making ingredient. And if you’ve followed our recommendations on boosting your libido, you know that foods that are bad for your heart are disastrous to your sex life. However, what would a great cake recipe be without the indulgence of butter? Just think of it as an occasional indulgence and relish every moment!
Check out all of our cake recipes
Ocean Prime Warm Butter Cake
Equipment
- 1 dozen 8-oz cake molds or ramekins
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 lb. unsalted butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 5 1/4 oz cream cheese softened
- 5 eggs
- 2/3 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
For the Buttermilk Soak mixture:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2/3 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
To garnish:
- Vanilla ice cream
- 1 pint fresh berries
- 12 sprigs mint
Instructions
- Preheat a convection oven to 350.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with a paddle attachment in a mixer until fluffy.
- Add cream cheese and continue to mix until incorporated.
- With the mixer speed on low, add eggs one by one and slowly add vanilla extract.
- Mix until fully incorporated.
- Scrape the sides of the mixer and add the flour. Then, mix on low speed until just incorporated – careful not to over mix.
- Arrange small cake molds or ramekins on a flat, parchment lined baking sheet.
- Spray the inside of the molds with a non-stick baking spray and place level ½ cup scoops of the batter into each mold, patting down until it is level.
- Bake the cakes in a convection oven for 15 minutes, rotate, and bake another 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
- While the cakes are baking, add the buttermilk soak mixture ingredients to a small sauce pan and heat until the butter has melted completely, but do not boil.
- When the cakes are removed from the oven, immediately poke about 20 holes into each cake with a wooden skewer.
- Ladle the buttermilk mixture onto each cake while it is still hot, making sure it goes in the holes. It will be just over a tablespoon of the soak per cake.
- Allow to cool in the molds until the cakes are close to room temperature but still warm and then remove the molds or ramekins.
- Serve cakes while still warm and top with vanilla ice cream and fresh berries, garnish with a sprig of mint.
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Amy is considered a leading authority on aphrodisiacs. Her work in aphrodisiacs is quoted in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, Epicurious, Wine Enthusiast, Health and Playboy magazines. She speaks internationally on aphrodisiac foods and has brought her knowledge of aphrodisiac history and science to national television shows including The Today Show and CBS Early Show. She is a frequent guest on relationship and lifestyle radio and podcast shows and has been interviewed by BBC and NPR radio, Cosmopolitan radio and popular podcasts including My Dad Wrote a Porno.
Amy is also a freelance food, wine and health researcher and writer as well as a wine competition judge. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from Variety to The Daily Meal. She is an MSN content provider. And she is also a former wine editor for Gayot.com and wine & spirits editor of Las Vegas magazine.
Fun fact: Amy was the creator of the first ever comprehensive food and wine apps, Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet and Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard for Palm.
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We’re so happy to hear this! We were originally apprehensive about posting this recipe because the steps get complicated. So glad you had a good experience.
My sisters, neice, our mom and I went to Ocean Prime New York some years ago. I will never ever forget that butter cake and ice cream. It was the simplest dessert but rich and amazing. I knew I had to make it at home and found this recipe. I made this for my hubbs and my Valentine’s Day dessert and it did NOT disappoint. It was amazing and brought back the Ocean Prime nostalgic experience. I didn’t have ramekins so I used my mini bundt cake pan molds. I baked on convection for 12 min to start. Then I rotated and baked for ~8-9 minutes more. Just amazing. My butter and cream cheese were softened and eggs were at room temp. It’s important that your butter and sugar are creamed appropriately about 5-6 min med speed (between 4 and 6) on stand mixer. I made my own berry compote and added cherry and strawberry extracts. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Love these questions, Margaret! Reheating would definitely be tricky. They are meant to be served immediately. I would sauce them right away. If you want to eat them later, my best suggestion is to try them at room temperature. You could try microwaving for a few seconds or heating in a low oven but you may not be satisfied with the results.
I made this once before and it was delicious! I want to make these for a dinner party, but I need to make them ahead on the same day. How can they be warmed up after they are made? Should I leave the saucing until later? Should I sauce them straight out of the oven and then heat them in a microwave? Please advise. Thanks.
So the kind of cakes this recipe makes are not like a classic birthday cake or bundt cake. They’re small cakes with a gooey, decadent interior, a little closer to a steam pudding than the kind of cake you might be used to making.
is the cake supposed to be dense? I made it and there is no baking powder in the cake so I was wondering. They turned out like little dense, heavy cakes
Also, is it correct to add 4 sticks of butter to the 2 cups of flour in the cake?
Unless I missed something, this recipe doesn’t work.
I’ve never tried the recipe as anything other than mini cakes but I’m guessing that it might collapse if you try to make it as one large cake.
I am making this for Christmas and am wondering if I can make this in a 9″ spring form pan or cake pan? Thank you
You are so right – and you are the first person to catch it! So sorry. The recipe came with a typo that I thought got corrected. It’s just over a tablespoon per cake. I’ve changed the instructions. Thank you so much for pointing it out.
I’m confused about the soak… the recipe calls for a 1/3 cup per cake and 12 cakes – I didn’t end up with enough soak. By my calculations the recipe only adds up to a little more than 1 1/4 cup of soak. Am I missing something?
All purpose flour
Is this plain flour are self-rising?
You can use a nutrition calculator like Very Well Fit, https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076, to get a close approximation of nutrition information for any recipe.
I have not tried this but would like to know where I can find the nutrition information.
A convection oven cooks about 25% faster than a conventional oven. So your cakes will probably cook for 7-8 minutes longer in your oven. This is all just a guess, since unless you recently calibrated your oven, it could be off by a few (or more) degrees or have hot and cold spots. I would say bake for 18 minutes before turning then bake 17 minutes before checking for doneness, knowing that the cakes could need as much as 3-5 additional minutes of baking. I really hope this helps.
How would you modify the baking time if you don’t have a convection oven?
Love that question, Lisa. We often freeze cake with great success but we’ve never tried freezing these. And since they aren’t exactly like classic cake, we’re not sure how well that will work. If you try it, please let us know. We would love to hear.
My question is whether or not these cakes freeze well or not? It makes 12 individual cakes and i wondered about freezing some.
We corrected it in the recipe. It should work for you as printed. We hope you enjoy!
I have not made this yet, but wanted to check in about the “omission” mentioned in one of the comments above. What ingredient was omitted from the recipe? What ingredient should be 1/4 cup? Should the amount of cream cheese be 5 1/4 ounces? Thanks!
This will be my first time I don’t have cake molds or ramekins so I am going to try muffin pans and hoping they turn out fine. I have no idea about a lb of butter but I will figure out what that is and why so many eggs?😊
Thanks for you question! For this, and all other recipes on our site, please use all-purpose unless the recipe specifies otherwise. Of course, you can always experiment with your preferred flour. Be sure to let us know the results.
Should we use cake flour or all-purpose flour? Maybe even mix of both?
We know, it’s a funny amount. But that’s what the chef sent us and it worked when we tried it, so we’re sticking with it.
Is the cream cheese correct? I it supposed to be 5 1/4 oz?
Thank you for this :)
Sorry for the omission! It was left off of the original recipe but it is 1/4 cup. We will be sure to add it into the recipe. As for the other question, the recipe is designed for individual cakes. We certainly welcome you to experiment. But it might take a few adjustments to make it work.
How much butter should be used in the soak? Can you make this in a large bundt or round cake pan if you don’t have cake molds or enough ramekins?
As test kitchen director, I tried the recipe and I didn’t even notice that butter instruction. I thought the cake was great the way it is written. I’m going to reach out to Ocean Prime to double check that it is a typo! Thanks for pointing it out.
This is almost exactly like Ocean Prime’s! I think what’s missing is the ingredients list for the buttermilk soak doesn’t mention butter but the cooking instructions does. Is there supposed to be butter in the soak?
THANK YOU SO MUCH for this! I’m thrilled I found it and it’s delicious!
The recipe calls for 8-oz cake molds or ramekins.
What size were the cake pans you used?