Gateau au Yaourt is a cake that is baked widely in France and appears in a number of cookbooks. I first learned about this cake from one of my favorite blogs, Chocolate and Zucchini. The beauty of this case is its simplicity. It needs very few ingredients and they are all pantry staples. It's also very easy to assemble. One can also add any number of additional items to the basic mix to give it a special twist. I've added blueberries and raspberries in the past. Some other recommendations are cranberries, chocolate chips or your favorite nuts like walnuts or pecans. Simply fold in 1 cup of your chosen ingredient to the batter before pouring into the baking pan. This is best baked in a 10 inch round pan but on occasion, I've used a loaf pan. It will take longer to bake with a loaf pan but the results are just as delicious. This is a great cake if you crave something sweet with tea on the weekend or a special weekday afternoon.
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I like sunflower oil)
1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum (optional)
1 and 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 10 inch round cake pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar and eggs. Then add vanilla, oil and rum if you are using rum.
3. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Pour the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture and whisk until just combined..
5. Pour batter in greased cake pan and bake 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
