Traditional cake recipes call for a heavy mixture of eggs, sugar, flour and butter, but the results are much lighter when you swap butter for yoghurt.
The natural acidity in yoghurt reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise, while also adding moisture and tenderness to the texture.
Sharing her recipe for yoghurt cake with BBC Good Food, esteemed cookbook author Hattie Ellis revealed one way to make this simple recipe even easier.
She said: “If you don’t have kitchen scales, you can measure the ingredients using a 125g yoghurt pot or a 120ml container.”
Simply fill the pot or container fully and level the surface for each measure. “You will need to use one measure yoghurt, one measure sunflower oil, two measures caster sugar and three measures plain flour”, said Hattie.
Yoghurt cake recipe
Ingredients
Three free-range eggs
125g/4½oz full-fat Greek yoghurt
120ml/4fl oz sunflower or other neutral-tasting oil, plus extra for greasing
180g/6oz caster sugar, plus extra to glaze
180g/6oz plain flour
Two tsp baking powder
A pinch of fine salt
Half tsp rosewater (optional)
One lime, lemon or orange, finely grated zest and juice, plus extra zest for decoration
Fresh berries, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5, then grease the sides of a 23cm/9in round cake tin and line the base with a circle of baking paper.
Take a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, yoghurt, and sunflower oil, then stir to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients, excluding the lime (or lemon or orange) juice, and beat together.
Now tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
As the cake cooks, make the glaze. Mix together the lime juice with an equal volume of caster sugar (for example, two tablespoons of juice with two tablespoons of sugar) and set aside to dissolve.
Sprinkle in the extra zest to brighten up the top of the cake. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
While the cake is still slightly warm, brush the lime glaze over the top and leave to cool. Serve the cake in slices with a sprinkling of fresh berries to finish.
