Lemon is such a nice Spring flavor so when a friend gave me some Meyer lemons from her mother’s tree, I knew I had to make this cake recipe that I’d pinned. This is a triple layer lemony dessert. First there is lemon zest in the cake batter. Then, you pour a simple syrup of lemon juice and sugar over the warm, baked caked and finally, you glaze the loaf with a lemon glaze.
If you don’t have vanilla yogurt, you can use plain yogurt and add some vanilla extract to the cake batter. I baked this for about 35 minutes and it was overdone so I’d start checking it around 25 minutes or so, but it could take up to 50 minutes or more depending on your oven and loaf pan.
And if you use white sugar instead of brown sucanat like I did, I’m pretty sure your cake will be a nice Springy yellow perfect for Easter or Mother’s Day.
Lemon Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vanilla whole-milk yogurt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 extra-large eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- Syrup:
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup Confectioners sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Grease and flour a loaf pan.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs and lemon zest. Carefully whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30-50 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, combine ingredients for syrup in a small pan.
- Heat syrup until sugar is completely incorporated. Set aside.
- When cake is done baking, remove from loaf pan (you may want to wait 10 minutes) and place on a cooling rack that has been placed over a baking sheet.
- Make small holes in the loaf with a cake tester or tooth pick.
- Slowly pour or drizzle syrup over cake and allow to soak in.
- Let cake cool completely.
- Make glaze and pour over cake.
- Cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear – set aside.
- When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool the cake.
- For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.
