Saturday, October 17, 2009

New camera = better pictures . . . hopefully

Yes, that's right folks, I no longer live in the stone-age. I actually own my own digital camera courtesy of my husband (who bought it for me while purchasing "his" big fat plasma digital hidef bla bla tv:) So, I can actually take pictures of food and have them look sort of what I made.

I had bought some plain yogurt on another of my "whims" at Trader Joes the other day and it was close to getting to that looming date located on all food products that scares us silly, so I knew I had to do something with it. I had remembered seeing a yogurt cake on orangette so that's what I made in the beautiful, silent 30 min on Wednsday when Riley is at AWANA and Daniel is asleep. Oh how I love and long and yearn for that half hour. Anyway, back to the cake.




French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon

This type of cake is an old classic in France, the sort of humble treat that a grandmother would make. Traditionally, the ingredients are measured in a yogurt jar, a small glass cylinder that holds about 125 ml. Because most American yogurts don't come in such smart packaging, you'll want to know that 1 jar equals about 1/2 cup.

For the cake:
1 jar plain yogurt
2 jars granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 jars unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 jar canola oil

For the glaze:
Juice from 2 lemons
1/2 jar powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring until well blended. Add the flour, baking powder, and zest, mixing to just combine. Add the oil and stir to incorporate. At first, it will look like a horrible, oily mess, but keep stirring, and it will come together into a smooth batter. Pour and scrape the batter into a buttered 9-inch round cake pan (after buttering, I sometimes line the bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper, and then I butter that too).

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the cake feels springy to the touch and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake.

Cool cake on a rack for about 20 minutes; then turn it out of the pan to cool completely.

When the cake is thoroughly cooled, combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl and spoon it gently over the cake. The glaze will be thin and will soak in like a syrup.
Serve.

Super easy and super fast (hence the 30 min time slot) and super delicious and super . . . super. That's a weird looking word, super.

1 comment: