Lemon-Yogurt Cake
So, being the stubborn mule that I am, I’ve decided to try my hand at baking once more. I know, I know…the oven and I are not exactly BFFs. Second-degree burns and cookie fails aside, I really just want to prove to myself that I know my way around the whole kitchen, not just part of it. So I went online and let StumbleUpon guide me to my next adventure.
I found a recipe for a lemon cake on a blog called Annie’s Eats; Annie got the recipe from Food Network’s Ina Garten. It looked absolutely incredible, and the best part is, I already had every single ingredient in-house; I didn’t have to buy a thing. I always keep fresh lemons and lemon juice on hand, I had plain yogurt left over from last week’s recipe, and the remaining ingredients are part of any well-stocked pantry. I started baking, thinking that it was just too good to be true. (Spoiler: it was.)
I mixed everything perfectly (when you bake, you have to be precise; it’s all about chemistry, which is probably why I’m so terrible at it). I had just put the batter into the oven and was working on the glaze on the stovetop when…the power went out. My entire apartment was out. Luckily for me, Emily (the amazing photographer who brings you mouth-watering photos every week) had power at her house. So we pulled the pan out of the oven, grabbed the pots off of the stove, and awkwardly carried everything to her house. Amazingly, the cake turned out to be amazing…the interruption in cooking didn’t hurt it a bit. I can now honestly say that I’ve overcome the odds; I can bake!
You will need:
(for the cake)
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (it’s coarser than table salt, and great for cooking too!)
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 1/3 cups sugar (don’t measure these out until you need them)
- 3 eggs
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
(for the glaze)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grab a metal loaf pan and spray it with cooking spray, then dust with flour.
In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt (I grabbed my colander and sifted it all through that; sifting makes for a lighter cake). Side note: when baking, you want to use EXACT amounts. Level off the measuring cups and spoons with a flat surface, like the back of a knife. In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, 1 cup of the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Then whisk in the dry ingredients from the smaller bowl. Add vegetable oil and fold the batter until it’s completely mixed (folding just means using a spatula to gently scoop and stir the batter). Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes (hopefully uninterrupted). When it’s done, you should be able to stick a toothpick or knife into the middle of the cake and pull it out without any batter sticking to it.
While the cake is baking, combine the 1/3 cup lemon juice and the final 1/3 cup sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. This makes what is essentially a simple syrup (although simple syrups are typically made with water, not lemon juice, but this version has more flavor). Remove from heat once the sugar is dissolved.
When the cake is done, let it cool for 10 minutes before you take it out of the pan. Put it on a baking sheet or large plate, and pour the lemon-flavored simple syrup over the cake. Remove from the sheet (so the bottom doesn’t get soggy) and let cool.
Once the cake is cooled, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle the mixture over the cake. I garnished mine with strawberries…it was delicious!
Tags: cake, College Kitchen, dessert, Emma Frankart