You might be thinking to yourself, um, Emily, what’s up with all this posting? Well, dear readers, I am leaving for a week-ish long vacation on Saturday. Sure, I could schedule these posts for next week, but I’m not sure what kind of internet connection I’m going to have (if any) throughout my week away, and I like to be able to stay on top of comment moderation.
So, that’s that.
Anyway, onto the cake!
I would like to state for the record, that this cake and the Summer Cherry Cake I posted about were made about a week and a half apart. We’re okay with cake, but let’s be honest folks, we’re really more pie people, and I don’t think we could eat that much cake in that short of time span. So, give us a week and a half in between and we were LOVING this lemon cake.
Yogurt cakes aren’t exactly new, and I know several of my favorite bakers have made some great ones. I also knew I wanted this cake to be lemony to the MAX.
So, for my inspiration, I actually combined ideas from Ina Garten and Dorie Greenspan. I used Ina’s idea to make a lemon simple syrup to drizzle over the cake as well as a lemon glaze. I modified Dorie Greenspan’s lemon cake recipe, punching up the lemon flavor with a little lemon extract, and voila: one LEMONTASTIC cake! It was incredible!
Notes: If you like lemon but don’t LOVE lemon, you can leave out the lemon extract for a milder version. It’s a little more boring, but there you go. Also, the lemon syrup and yogurt keep the cake very moist, so it’s just as good the second day!
Triple Lemon Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2c flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2tsp salt
- 1c whole-milk, plain yogurt
- 1c sugar
- 1/2c canola oil
- 3 eggs
- zest from 2 lemons
- 1/4tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4-1/2tsp lemon extract
For the lemon syrup:
- 1/3c sugar
- 1/3c fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
For glaze:
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1c powdered sugar
- 1/4tsp vanilla extract
- milk, any percentage (optional)
Instructions
- Make the cake by sifting the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, and canola oil. Add eggs one at a time stirring until well incorporated. Add lemon zest, vanilla, and 1/4tsp lemon extract. Taste (if you’re not nervous), and add more lemon extract if desired. Add the sifted dry ingredients to your wet/yogurt mixture all at once and stir to combine.
- Pour into a well-sprayed loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- During the last 5-10 minutes of baking, heat lemon syrup ingredients (1/3c sugar, 1/3c lemon juice) in a medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to cool slightly as you remove cake from the oven.
- Remove cake from the oven and let stand on a cooling rack about 5 minutes. Turn out onto platter or serving plate and, while still warm, drizzle with lemon syrup. Allow cake to cool completely.
- When cake is completely cool, make glaze by combining lemon juice, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. If mixture is too thick to pour, you can thin it with a small splash of milk or more lemon juice. Pour over cake and allow to set before serving.
Hi! I made this cake an it was phenomenal! I’m going to make it again for a ladies grown up slumber party…but was thinking of making it a 3layer cake w either whip cream in between the layers or perhaps an ice cream in between…what you think…I’ll be serving it w a white zin/Strawberry-peach w lemons sangria. What’s your thought?? It’s summer, it’s hot here in Michigan…
Cme – I’m glad you liked it! I’ve never tried it as a layer cake. I’m not sure if the layers would stay level…I’d love to know how it turns out for you if you try it! Best of luck!
Lemontastic!! Haha, love it. I need to try this! Nothing is ever too lemony for me 🙂 (First time visitor btw, cute blog!)
Thanks, Emily, for your reply. The cake is delicious! Though I passed on incorporating lemon zest (my lemons were very soft and thin skinned), the cake was nonetheless quite lemony. And the texture reminded me of a sweet quick bread: light, airy and with holes. Thanks for sharing the recipe.