Our baking adventure for this week was to make a Lemon Yoghurt Cake, using the recipe from my trusty "Best Ever Baking" by Carole Clements. The only modification I made was to add a capful of orange oil and double the amount of lemon zest, aye, I love my citrus flavours.
An indecent amount of butter was creamed with an equally obscene amount of sugar until pale. Egg yolks went in next, slowly, followed by lemon juice, yoghurt and lemon zest- the lemon juice initially made the batter look a bit curdled and got me a little worried but it didn't affect the end result. Sifted flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda was incorporated and finally stiff egg whites beaten with a little salt was folded in. Bake at 180 C. A light frosting made with lemon juice, icing sugar and yoghurt was drizzled over the cakes when they cooled.
Everyone agreed that this has to be the best tasting cake to have emerged from our oven so far. Just the right sweet-sour balance. The yoghurt seems to be the magic ingredient that made the rich butter cake less cloying and also gave it a very soft, tender crumb. Simple and good, which means that I'll probably make it again soon.
