Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake: Earlier on this year, I was tempted to make Smitten Kitchen’s “Lemon Yogurt Anything Cake” after seeing it on a friend’s Instagram feed. My first attempt, whilst very tasty and perfectly edible, had a few issues. I found it was too “wet”, too sweet, very oily and a bit heavy. I played around with the recipe, making many cakes over the course of a few months and found my perfect formula.
The main changes I made to address the excessive wetness of the cake are to use slightly less fruit and yogurt and a tad more flour. I use less fat and a zero or low fat yogurt to reduce the oiliness. Most or the time, I always use less sugar than a recipe calls for – with this recipe I use less sugar in the mix but also omit the sugary drizzle on the top. Beating the eggs until frothy and very carefully folding in the flour to trap air helps reduce the density & heaviness of the cake. To help with an even & quicker bake, because my oven isn’t very good, I prefer to use a bundt cake ring/tin.
I think 98% of my friends and family have now eaten my version of the “Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake” and those that bake always ask for the recipe. So, here it is!
Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 100g/100ml coconut oil
- 200g plain low fat or zero fat yogurt (I use Total Zero Fat Greek Yogurt)
- zest of 1 (unwaxed) lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
- 150g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 220g plain flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- pinch of sea salt
- 250g of blueberries
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl (I LOVE my Mason Cash bowl)
- Smaller mixing bowl
- Sieve
- Hand whisk
- Bundt tin (I use a silicon one)
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C / 356F / Gas Mark 4.
- Grease and flour your cake ring. I put a dab of coconut oil on a bit of kitchen roll and rub it into the cake mould.
- Gently heat the coconut oil in a pan until melted. Take off the heat.
- In the smaller bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the yogurt, lemon zest, vanilla and sugar to the pan with the coconut oil and mix together well.
- Rinse and dry your blueberries (if necessary) and then toss them in about 1 tablespoon of flour.
- In the large bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until frothy.
- Gently mix in the liquid ingredients (coconut oil, yogurt, etc.) – taking care not to beat out all the air bubbles from the eggs.
- Now add the flour and fold in as carefully as possible.
- Next, fold in the fruit.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for between 35-45 minutes.
It’s delicious eaten whilst warm but I actually prefer it the next day. Lasts for 3 days in an airtight container on the kitchen counter.
This is an extremely versatile cake recipe because you can switch out the fruit and flavours with so many other options. Here are some examples that I have tried:
Apple & Cinnamon : use thinly sliced apple instead of blueberries, raisins instead of lemon and cinnamon instead of vanilla.
Plum & Almond : use small pieces of plum & replace 50g of flour with 50g of ground almonds.
Mixed Berries : gather together all the left over bits of soft fruit from the punnets in the fridge – I made a lovely cake with a few raspberries, blueberries & cherries that added up to 250g. Make sure to chop up the larger fruits to roughly match the size of the blueberries.
If you make my Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Cake, please do let me know how you got on! You can tag me on Instagram, if you use it : mezzamay
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