Have your cake and eat it too with this French Yogurt Cake recipe
You don’t need a celebration to bake a cake. And adding some sweetness and fun to the mundane week is a great lesson to pass on to kids and make meaningful memories at the same time.
In our October issue, food columnist April Hamilton highlights a book that inspires creativity and three simple recipes that harness this sweet sentiment. “I once read that this is the first cake that children in France learn to bake,” Hamilton writes. “It is whisk-together simple, and I have made it with lots of young kids who are indeed gleeful of the alchemy of the process. I reduce the granulated sugar in the original recipe and add a touch of powdered sugar glaze and crushed freeze-dried berries for fruity sprinkles.”
Get the children in the kitchen and try her French Yogurt Cake recipe.
French Yogurt Cake with a Flourish
1 cup unbleached flour
1⁄2 cup almond flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄4 tsp. fine sea salt
3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1⁄2 cup plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1⁄2 cup neutral oil (canola, safflower, avocado)
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract
For Glaze and Topping:
3 Tbsp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
Crushed freeze-dried berries
Butter an 8x4x4-in. loaf pan, and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Whisk together sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in yogurt, eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir until eggs are fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula just until smooth.
Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and bake until golden and split on top and a tester comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 45 minutes.
Let cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife blade around perimeter of pan to help release cake, then tip it out onto cooling rack top-side-up, and let cool completely.
Combine powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle with crushed berries and serve in thick slices with your morning brew.
Cake keeps, covered at room temperature, up to 5 days.
Makes 1 cake.
