Lemon Yogurt Cake

I'm not doing a lot of cooking for a few days, as we have all sorts of dinners planned and all of them are away from our home. But I had to make this cake today, for two reasons: I couldn't stay out of the kitchen any longer, and I had about a million tiny lemons that my parents gave me from their tree. The logical choice was to make a lemon cake, and the logical chef to turn to for the recipe was Ina Garten.

This is her delicious, tangy, fluffy and sweet lemon yogurt cake. It's magnificent. I changed up a few ingredients to make it more my style. I have recommended using lowfat Greek style yogurt, but feel free to use the yogurt of your choice. I was a little low on yogurt so I made up the difference with skim milk, and the cake came out perfectly just the same.

The glaze is very tart, and nicely complements the sweetness of the cake. This cake just screams out "afternoon tea." That, and "eat me!"

Lemon Yogurt Cake
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa at Home
makes one loaf cake

INGREDIENTS:









1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plan lowfat Greek yogurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 1 large lemon)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, mix the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

3. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

4. Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan over medium-high heat, until sugar dissolves and mixture is clear and smooth. Set aside.

5. When cake is done, cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack over a baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the loaf and spread it with a pastry brush to evenly distribute. (You might want to brush the sides of the loaf as well). Let cool, and serve.

This brings back so many memories for me, of the lemon tea cake my mother always used to make (and still does), and of the fact that the only type of yogurt I would eat as a kid was lemon flavored. Go figure.

Enjoy!