Sunday, February 8, 2009

Yogurt Pound Cake


This is relatively healthy. For a cake. For me. It really is! Look at the recipe! Only 1/2 cup oil and 1 cup sugar. That's nothing for me! I could use a pound of butter and a pound (2 cups) of sugar for a regular pound cake.

But it also came out really good. It's a medium density cake, not light like an angel food cake, a little denser than a typical cake mix but not as dense as most cakes I've done from scratch, ie Caramel Cake, which was really good but you could only eat a tiny sliver before having a heart attack and having a seizure on the floor. Which is bad for a late night snack like Nigella Lawson does when you live by yourself. Let's try to avoid that. Or at least minimize it.

I brought this cake to work, of course. A lot of people thought it was a lemon cake even though there was no lemon in it. The apricot jam gave it that tartness. I put the jam on while the cake was still hot so that it soaked into the cake a little. Also because it was late and I wanted to go to bed but that's besides the point. I did it because I wanted it to soak in. Really.

I will definitely try yogurt again in other baked goods. This cake came out incredibly moist and tender. Maybe I'll make muffins or something. Or whatever inspires me next. Maybe I'll retry this one again and replace the oil with applesauce and maybe add something else to it to up the flavor.



Yogurt Pound Cake
based on Yogurt Pound Cake by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil


1/4 cup apricot jam
1 teaspoon water

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line and grease a loaf pan.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl.
Combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, and vanilla in large bowl.
Stir in dry ingredients. Using rubber spatula, fold in oil. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Place pan on baking sheet.

Place cake in oven and bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool.

Heat and stir jam and water in small container until they melt together. Brush hot mixture over top of cake. Let glaze cool and set. Cut cake crosswise into slices.

No comments: