Technically, summer doesn’t end until September 22nd, and summer berries are still at the grocery stores, so I’d say that now is as good a time as ever to take advantage.
And if you decide to make this cake after berries have long gone out of season, don’t worry! This can be served with any of your favorite fruits, or you could even make a berry syrup from frozen berries. 
But really, the fruit is just a side note. This cake here is the star of the show. It’s soft and spongy, due to a generous serving of yogurt in its batter. It’s also got a sweet, buttery, citrusy flavor to it. Basically, it’s a perfect coffee cake to have on any occasion.
The recipe is adapted from the latest addition to my cookbook collection: Yogurt by Janet Fletcher. The book shows you how to incorporate yogurt to any meal of the day. From breakfast to dinner, and of course dessert. Not only that, but the books gives instructions for how to make yogurt from scratch and even how to make greek yogurt or yogurt cheese.
Although the recipes in here don’t have any specific ethnic-theme, many of the recipes seem to be of Indian or Middle Eastern cuisine. There’re recipes like spinach with yogurt and dukka; chopped salad with farro, yogurt, and za’atar; and cherry tomato raita. The dessert section isn’t particularly diverse, containing mostly recipes that require yogurt in a bowl with a variety of mix-ins (such as roasted nuts or cooked fruits). Actually, the only recipe there that required a dish with yogurt to be baked in any form was the one I chose, the golden yogurt cake.
Overall, I think this is a good book for those who either already love yogurt or who want to experiment a bit more with yogurt. For me, although I do like yogurt, I’m not interested in incorporating it into most meals and didn’t find this book incredibly inspiring. Although there were some recipes that I thought looked really good or that I’d be really interested in making, I didn’t get that impression for the majority of the recipes, so I’m not sure that this would be a book I’d recommend to everyone.
Nonetheless, the recipe for this yogurt cake was basically perfection, so I’d definitely recommend making this for your next brunch (or lunch or dinner or midnight snack…)!
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup yogurt
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 3 tsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Start with the yogurt cream: First step is to drain the yogurt. Layer a strainer with a couple sheets of cheesecloth. Put a bowl underneath the strainer so the excess liquid can land somewhere. Place the yogurt in the stainer (on top of the bowl). Place in the fridge and allow to strain for about an hour.
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan with flour and oil.
- Grab two small bowls. In the first, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In the second, combine yogurt, oil, zest, and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, while the eggs on high speed for about three minutes. Mixture should start to become thick and glossy. Gradually add in the sugar. Turn the mixer speed down and add in the yogurt mixture. Finally, fold in the flour mixture.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Finish making the yogurt cream: While the cake is cooling, whip the heavy cream with an electric mixer. Whip until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a smaller bowl and mix in the maple syrup and vanilla. Finally, fold in the strained yogurt from the fridge. Serve each slice of cake with a dollop of this cream and a handful of berries or whatever other fruit you have on hand. There shouldn’t be leftover cream, but if there is, use it in a smoothie, to top a bowl of fruit, mixed with granola, or onto of pancakes or waffles.
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