I seem to be having a bit of a baking extravaganza this month. Look at all the baked goods I’ve featured on Blue Cayenne!
Spring is here in Southern California and my farmers’ market has been rich in berries–blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and on and on. I’ve been luxuriating in breakfast bowls with lots of fresh berries to start my days.The other day I went looking for a sweet little pound cake-ish recipe to use up some of my berry stash and this Yogurt Berry Cake from Dorie Greenspan didn’t let me down. The cake is perfumed with vanilla and a bit of almond extract and the crumb of the cake is smooth and velvety. It is also open to all sorts of variations. You can get creative with what you have in your pantry–chocolate, dried fruits, fresh fruits, spices of your choice and on and on.
This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Dorie’s Anytime Cakes. You can order this excellent cookbook through your local bookstore or online at Amazon here. In this recipe’s introduction in her cookbook, Dorie writes that, while most of her French friends don’t bake because there are so many great bakeries in France, this Yogurt Berry Cake is the one recipe that just about every French person does bake, calling up as it does fond memories of parties and family gatherings.
Here is the recipe as I baked it in my kitchen.
Yogurt Berry Cake
Ingredients
- For the Cake
- 1 1/2 C. berries
- 1 C. granulated sugar
- 1 lemon (zest and juice)
- 1/2 C. Greek yogurt (room temperature)
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- 2 t. rose water (to your taste)
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1/4 t. almond extract
- 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/4 t. fine sea salt
- 1/2 C. neutral oil
- For the Glaze
- 1/2 C. powdered sugar
- Freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Prepare a loaf pan (or loaf pans if you want to make smaller cakes) by spraying it with baking spray and lining the pan with parchment. Leave two sides of the parchment long to drape over the long sides of the loaf pan to serve as handles. These “handles” will make it easier to remove the cake after baking.
- Step 3 If you are using fresh berries in your cake, toss them in 2 t. of flour and set them aside
- Step 4 Put sugar into a bowl. Grate the lemon zest into the bowl and, using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is fragrant with the lemon zest.
- Step 5 Whisk the yogurt into the sugar.
- Step 6 Add the eggs (one by one) to the sugar/yogurt mixture, whisking briefly after the addition of each egg.
- Step 7 Whisk the rose water, vanilla extract and almond extract into the sugar/yogurt/egg mixture.
- Step 8 Whisk the dry ingredients into the yogurt mixture ( flour, baking powder, salt). Do this in two additions and whisk only until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overmix.
- Step 9 Using a flexible spatula, fold the neutral oil (I used grapeseed) into the batter. You want a smooth, glossy batter with the oil totally incorporated.
- Step 10 Fold in the berries.
- Step 11 Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 55 to 65 minutes depending on your oven. Remove the cake from the oven. Use a skewer to test the cake for doneness. The skewer should come out clean and the top of the cake should feel firm when pressed with your fingers. Transfer cake to a rack and let it cool for about 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the pan to release it.
- Step 12 While the cake is cooling, make the glaze. Stir the lemon juice into the powdered sugar until you have a pourable but thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.
