Psssst…….did you happen to know I kind of like Paris? French food too, just a little. And while I probably will never have my very own pied-a-terre walkup in the sixth arrondissement like Ina Garten and Dorie Greenspan, I love stalking following these two celebrity American chefs and their culinary escapades in the city of light.
Both Ina and Dorie have published recipes for this French Lemon Yogurt Cake. It’s a great recipe because it whips up in a flash using ingredients found around the house. The cake tastes like no other, almost like eating a very dense, flavorful and moist pudding. There is a great crumb and depth of flavor created when a fresh lemon simple syrup is poured over the surface of the baked cake and absorbed.
Dorie uses extra virgin olive oil in her recipe and Ina’s calls for vegetable oil. I’ve tried both and also make the cake using melted butter. All three renditions are a bit different, but still absolutely scrumptious.
As the story goes, almost all French mothers make some version of this yogurt cake as a snack for their polite little children after a hard day at school. Given there is a five star patisserie on almost every street corner in Paris, this is a great testimony to how good the cake is. I’ve heard it trumps macaroons and chocolate croissants as the Parisian childhood snack of choice. (I personally love having it as a coffee cake at breakfast.)
Before we jump into the recipe, I want to share a picture from our most recent trip to Paris last October. Gorgeous weather, five dear friends and a week in the cutest little 1st arrondissement apartment. (In case you were wondering why this blog is named “Just Pinch Me!!”) This picture captures, like no words can, how very special Paris is. If you have not gotten to Paris yet, my wish is you will get to visit very soon. (JoEll are you listening?!?) Photo credos for this gorgeous pic go to my gal Sue over at The Spin Cycle blog. If you click on the link, it will whisk you over to a very cute blog post she wrote about our trip.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain yogurt (can use greek yogurt)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
zest from 2 lemons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, vegetable oil or melted butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
preheat oven to 350 degrees
grease a bread loaf pan or 8X8 brownie pan
sift the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside
in a separate bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and oil (or melted butter). Stir to combine.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, folding to combine.
Pour the cake batter into prepared pan and bake 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
Once cake comes out of oven, cool for 10 minutes.
Take a fork and pierce the surface of the cake, making holes where the lemon simple syrup (recipe below) will be absorbed.
Pour the lemon simple syrup over the surface of the cake, letting it soak in and absorb.
It's nice to serve the sliced cake with fresh sliced strawberries, whipped cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
put 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar in a a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves into lemon juice and syrup is clear. Remove from heat and pour over surface of lemon yogurt cake.
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Well. Check YOU out! Thank you for the link-up and the kind words. Love you to Paris and back!
Yeppers, I think I might be unstuck. BTW I’m sure you’ll get thousands of hits from my link – giggle – not!
Yeppers, I think I might be unstuck. BTW I’m sure you’ll get thousands of hits from my link – giggle – not!
This sounds amazing.
Made this last week without the glaze, and it was SO good! I used Greek yogurt. Big hit in the fam. We found that it tasted [even] better after a couple days and also, refrigerated. Thanks for the recipe =)