A technique to synthesize complex oxide ceramic powders which offers advantages of both the coprecipitation and sol-gel routes while doing away with the disadvantages is disclosed. Namely, the ability to achieve chemical homogeneity and crystallite size on the namometer length scale at a nonprohibitive cost is provided by the disclosed method. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for the synthesis of a mixed metal oxide powder is provided including (a) combining a liquid absorbent resin with at least one solution selected from the group consisting of solutions containing at least one organo-metallic compound and solutions containing at least one metallic salt compound, such that at least two metals are present in the liquid absorbent resin after the combining is completed; (b) after the combining, allowing the liquid absorbent resin to swell and gel and thereby form a swollen gel; (c) preparing a precursor material by changing at least one of the pH and temperature of the swollen gel; (d) pyrolyzing the precursor material to form a pyrolyzed precursor material; and (e) calcining the pyrolyzed precursor material to form a mixed metal oxide powder.