Simple Yoghurt Cake Recipe

Guest Author - Cynthia Kilmartin

This cake takes me back to my first ever professional cooking job. I was working in a ski resort in Austria, and this is actually a cake that works at altitude. It is a not common knowledge that the chemistry of food is affected by altitude and that many things – eggs in particular change considerably once the air gets a little thinner. So if you do live at any significant altitude and you have never made a yoghurt cake – this one is especially for you!

No matter where you live though, this cake recipe is simple – almost fool proof - and makes a lovely moist cake with a great consistency. Better still, it requires no scales, or measuring equipment, no mixing equipment and is a recipe you can keep in your head, I have been using it for 20 years without writing it down! Great for vacations! This is a recipe that will stay with you for years!

Ingredients

• 1 pot of yoghurt – any flavour
  
• 1 yoghurt pot of vegetable oil
  
• 1 yoghurt pot of sugar
  
• 3 yoghurt pots of Self Raising flour
  
• 3 eggs
  
  Method
  1. grease and flour your choice of cake tin ( loaf tin, ring tin, round tin or muffin pans or you can even use cup cake papers).
     
  2. put all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Yes it is THAT simple. Obviously, you do have to put the yoghurt in first, as you need the empty yoghurt pot to measure the other ingredients, but apart from that you can't go wrong. You can mix it with a wooden spoon, or a fork, the kids can mix it. It will start with a few lumps but generally mixes into a smooth batter in about a minute.
     
  3. put the batter into your choice of tin and bake in a moderate oven until a tooth pick comes out clean – if you are using a cake tin this will be about 30 minutes, if you are using muffin tins or cup cake papers this will be around 15 minutes.
     
     Flavour ideas
     • use any flavour yoghurt you like, the flavour will go into the cake, but won't be particularly strong, so you may want to enhance it for example:
       
     • strawberry yoghurt – if you want the strawberry flavour stronger, add a tsp of strawberry jam
       
     • coconut yoghurt – add some desiccated coconut
       
     • banana yoghurt – add 1 mashed banana
       
       Feel free to experiment,
       
     • add chopped fruit to natural yoghurt e.g. apples or peaches with half a tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg – delicious.
       
     • a tsp of granulated coffee dissolved in a little hot water with some toasted walnuts
       
     • some mixed spice and dried fruit
       
       Tips
       • if you can't get self raising flour use all purpose flour and 2 tsp of baking powder
         
       • this recipe works equally well with rice flour or gluten free flour – you will need to add the 2 tsps of baking powder
         
       • you can freeze the cake or muffins (up to a month)