Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

I was in a town of Speyer, Germany with a group of friends one day when we sat down for a coffee. To accompany our coffee, we picked a piece of what the waitress called ‘yoghurt cake’. It was amazingly flavourful and moist but light with fruit toppings. When I saw this recipe at Orangette, I wondered if it was the same cake.

The result is a moist sponge cake which keeps its texture for days without refrigeration. It’s very easy to make, too, with minimal amount of utensils. I used only a bowl and a wooden spoon to mix the batter.

Following the suggestion from one of the commenters, I topped the lemon juice glaze with chocolate ganache for a chocolate treat (an overkill, I know, but I can’t resist the thought of citrus and chocolate). I’ll probably try the fruit version soon, given the abundance of beautiful little berries in summer.

Ingredients:
Modified from Orangette.

For the cake:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup olive oil

For the glaze:
Juice from 2 lemons
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For the chocolate ganache:
100 g dark chocolate (70%)
75 ml heavy cream
1 tbsp milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius)

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.

Melt the chocolate into the cream. Away from the heat, beat 1 tbsp of milk. Let cool and spread onto the cake.

Variations (direct quote from Orangette): This type of yogurt-based cake is a terrific base for many improvisations. For a basic yogurt cake, simply leave out the lemon zest, and do not use the lemon juice glaze. For an almond version, try replacing 1 jar of flour with 1 jar of finely ground almonds. You can also play with adding various fruits (if frozen, do NOT thaw before adding) or nuts, if you like. When I add fruit, I generally pour half the cake batter into the prepared pan, top it with a layer of fruit, and then pour in the other half of the batter, sometimes adding more fruit on the very top.