Gâteau au yaourt ^^

Doesn't gâteau au yaourt sounds so much more exciting than plain ol' yogurt cake? ^^

Sudden cravings for yogurt-something, anything(!!!).. had me googling for "yogurt cake" on the mobile in the middle of the night! There's really no connection between yogurt and the scorching heat, is there??

Well, this recipe had my attention.. you'll see why ^^..

Gâteau au yaourt ~ Yogurt cake (recipe by chocolateandzucchini)
1 cup (250ml) yogurt, unsweetened (use your favorite ^^ i love farmers union)
2 eggs, beaten (beat till light and fluffy if you like a lighter, fluffier cake ^^)
1/3 cup neutral tasting oil (i like using grapeseed oil over corn/sunflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum (i love rum in cakes!)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour, sifted (i cheated, used self-raising flour and omitted baking powder/soda)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda, sifted
a pinch of salt

1. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together ~ sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt ~ till well combined.

2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add yogurt, beaten eggs, oil, vanilla extract and rum. Gently mix all the ingredients together till combined. DO NOT OVER MIX.

3. Pour into a greased or lined 10-inch (?) round baking tin. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 30-35 minutes, till the top is golden and the skewer comes out clean. I baked mine in 2 loaf tins at 170C for 45-50 minutes. Baking in loaf tins will usually result in domed, cracked tops.. less likely if using round/square tins.

That's it! This is one of those easy-peasy, dump everything together bake ^^. Just one reading of chocolateandzucchini's yogurt cake post, and you won't even need the recipe! That's what I thought.. and I made the mistake of using 2/3 cup of oil instead of 1/3 cup, because the mind couldn't reconcile with the use of so little oil, haha! No harm done, I think ^^.

Anyway, the ratios are easy to remember ~ 1 cup (250ml) yogurt : 1 cup sugar : 2 cups flour : 2 eggs ~ you can use the same cup (the one your yogurt came in) to measure the ingredients. Since mine came in a 200g tub, I adjusted my measurements accordingly ^^. They say this is the first cake that french kids learn to make. I believe it. ^^

You know I've always been hesitant of bakes that doesn't use butter ^^||.. and past results using vegetable oil like sunflower and corn oil have not exactly endeared me to such bakes. I always feel these supposedly light and neutral tasting oil are "heavy" and strong flavored somehow ^^|| Kitchen feels extra greasy too when I use them for cooking. Maybe it's just me?? But I'm loving the results with grapeseed oil, for baking as well as for cooking ^^.

The result ~ a light textured cake that's extremely soft, moist and fluffy with a slightly crusty top. Flavor and aroma wise ~ it's on the soft and delicate side (though I expect the flavors to develop a little more the next day ^^). As usual, I like my cakes plain. But this cake also pairs quite nicely with homemade fruit jam/sauce, or even whipped cream ^^. It'd make a very good basic cake for trifles, I think ^^. And you can tweak this easily to suit your own preference too, by adding orange or lemon zest or blueberries, almonds etc.

mulberries grown in the tropics are never sweet! organic or not!!!

For some weird reason, this cake makes me think of a doughnut I had in kuromon market, osaka.. crusty exterior, soft fluffy-airy texture inside ^^ The more I think of it, even the smell and taste are alike too! Yums! ^^

This is a seriously delicious cake that uses no butter (!) and stays beautifully soft and moist (even in the fridge). You can bet I'm making this again! ^^