I loved the write-up of this recipe in Cake Keeper Cakes – in that you usually have the ingredients for it on hand. This is a great simple plain cake. One that my son Greg loves. He said “mom, this is amazing – it is just perfect for me!” Every day this week there was a piece in his lunch – and he was a very happy person. Laura Chattman’s recipe calls for the cake plain which is delicious, but I happen to have some mixed frozen berries and I added them to half the batter (I doubled the recipe and made two cakes). The result was equally as great. Greg’s friend Jamie was over and exclaimed that he loved berries and cake and “oh, Lisi, this is really really good.” My daughter Sylvie loved the berries in it too. I like this cake because there is no butter, and the low fat yogurt and eggs somehow make this feel like a healthy treat despite the sugar and white flour. (So I didn’t scold my au pair Alisa for eating it for breakfast.) Enjoy!
(berry) yogurt cake (adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Laura Chattman):
2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 (scant) teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (or whole-milk)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs (room temp)
2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
mixed raspberries, blueberries or blackberries – frozen (do not thaw) or fresh – amount to your liking
confectioners’ sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch round cake pan. Place a parchment round in the buttered pan, and then lightly flour – knocking out any excess.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, mix the yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until flour is just incorporated. If using berries, add now. Pour into prepped pan and bake for about 40-45 (for plain) and about 50 minutes (for berries). As usual check often and before to avoid over baking this cake.
Let the cake sit for 5-10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack and let cool. Dust with the confectioners’ sugar (if you’d like) and enjoy!
