Last weekend we had our annual backyard summer party planned with our dear friend Emily, but it had to be postponed because IT HAS NOT STOPPED RAINING! So all of our plans were cancelled for the day and all the supplies we purchased needed to be used for different things. Have no fear, my boys are having a great time eating all the party snacks we bought, but I needed to find a use for all the citrus I purchased to enhance the margaritas. So I went searching for a fun recipe to try something new. I came across the recipe for Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake from Smitten Kitchen. I’m sure if you have been reading for a while you know that I am huge fan of her blog and cookbooks. If you are ever looking for a great recipe her site is a fantastic place to start!
This recipe uses a simple technique and simple ingredients. The ingredients are 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of whole milk yogurt, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 1/2 cups blueberries and extra 1 tablespoon flour, 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.
Really quickly, look at how beautiful the color of these eggs are that we got from the farmers market. The top one has the most lovely greeny blue tint to it. Also, I did have 1 1/2 cups of blueberries when I started baking, but a little hand kept stealing them! How could you get angry though at that little squishy nugget?
First thing to do is to preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Then prepare the loaf pan by spraying it with grapeseed oil spray and adding a strip of parchment paper to the bottom of the pan and leave extra to make it easy to remove later.
Remember how I said that the technique for this cake is so simple? It cannot get more simple than adding most of the ingredients to the bowl and whisking them together to begin the recipe. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, yogurt and vanilla. Next, whisk together the dry ingredients in a small bowl- the flour, salt and baking powder. Then slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined, but do not over mix.
Before adding the blueberries to the batter, add 1 tablespoon of flour to the them and toss them together to make sure they are coated. This will help the blueberries to make sure they do not all sink to the bottom of the pan while baking. Then gently fold all the blueberries into the batter to make sure they are all combined.
Add the cake batter to the prepared loaf pan and put into the preheated 350 F degree oven. The recipe said to put the cake in the oven for 50+ minutes. My cake ended up taking 65 minutes.
While the cake is baking, put the sugar and lemon juice into a small pan. Whisk it over medium heat until the mixture is clear and the sugar is all dissolved. Then set the mixture aside until the cake is finished baking.
When the cake is finished baking, pull it out of the oven and put it on a cooling rack. Then poke the whole top of the cake with a toothpick and slowly pour a 1/3 of the lemon juice and sugar mixture over the top of the cake. Once it is all absorbed add the next 1/3 and continue until all of the syrup is absorbed into the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.
Finally, use the parchment sling to pull the cake out of the pan and slice and serve! The cake crumb is quite tender and moist. The blueberries add a delicious sweet contrast to the tangy citrus zest and syrup in the cake. This ended up being a wonderful fresh tasting cake for spring and summer.
Final Thoughts:
- Kevin swears that I have made something similar before, but I honestly cannot remember what it would be. So if you have made something similar and fed it to Kevin, please help us solve the mystery!
- I think this would be delicious with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream. I found some Reddi Whip in the fridge and it was yummy so either of those would send this over the top.
- I also think this would be a wonderful brunch item to serve at a lovely shower.
- Deb at Smitten Kitchen says that you can use this cake base in 1,000 variations. You can change your citrus, you can change your fruit, you could add chocolate check out her post to hear all of her suggestions.
- I just realized that this is adapted from Ina Garten and anything Ina is amazing!
Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup whole-milk yogurt
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 extra-large eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil + grapeseed oil spray for the pan
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees and prepare a loaf pan by spraying it with grapeseed oil and putting a long strip of parchment paper in the bottom with extra hanging out the side like a sling.
- In a large bowl whisk together the oil, yogurt, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar and eggs.
- In a small bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder and kosher salt. Then slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet batter until combined, but do not over mix.
- Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the blueberries and toss until coated. Carefully fold the blueberries into the batter and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 50 – 65 minutes depending on your oven and pan size. Make sure a toothpick comes out clean to know it is fully baked.
- While the cake is baking, combine the lemon juice and sugar in a small pan and whisk over medium heat until the sugar is disolved and it is clear, then set aside.
- After the cake is out of the oven, place it on a cooling rack and poke the whole top with a toothpick. Slowly pour the 1/3rd of the syrup over the cake until it is all absorbed and then keep repeating until all of the syrup is absorbed into the cake.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and then use the parchment paper sling to pull the cake out of the pan.
- Slice the cake and serve alone or with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
- Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Allie and the Oven 