Peach Yogurt Cake with Fruit Glacé

Heart-shaped yogurt cake. Literally bleeding with delicious goodness.

It was my birthday today, so in the Recipeless kitchen, that can only mean one thing... it's cake time. Time to make a cake. I can't remember the last time I ever tried to make a cake from scratch... never, maybe? I did okay with the muffins, so I looked at the cake thing as just being "one large muffin". And indeed, the way it puffed up in the oven, it kind of looked like one large heart-shaped muffin (I threw in too much yogurt, but don't worry, I adjusted the measurements for you!). Why heart-shaped? Well why not? (And also because I couldn't find what happened to my regular cake pans).

This all started because I had some fruit flavored yogurt in the fridge that I needed to polish off, and it was way too much to finish at once. So why not use it in a cake? The problem with many cakes is that they are too dry. No problem with that here, I assure  you. This cake is so moist, that my associate taster likened it to cheesecake. And indeed, it did resemble cheesecake. The beauty of it, is that it still leaves much room for variation; making it near-recipeless.

For example, I used a peach yogurt, but you can start with plain yogurt, and add whatever fruit you like. If you have berries, you can even just sprinkle them on top of the batter, for a fruity topping. For the glacé (glaze topping), while it looks like strawberry in the pic, it's actually blueberry. Though I might have preferred peach or even a citrus jam or marmalade, it's what I happened to have on hand, in a jam. So you could use whatever jam or jelly you prefer, for the glaze. No matter how  you vary the basic recipe, it still remains, like most of the Recipeless Cook recipes, quite easy to make. Even if you've never made a cake before. Now let's get started!...


Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly beaten (or at least idly threatened)
3/4 to 1 c yogurt (plain or fruity)
1 c sugar
1/4 c neutral-flavored healthy vegetable oil (ie. good canola) (Substitution: melted butter or margarine)
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
2 t baking powder

Glacé (topping)

1/4 c jam or jelly
1 T lemon juice
1 T sugar

Instructions

Cake

Mixing the liquid ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, add the yogurt and sugar, and mix until combined. Add the beaten eggs, and stir into the mix.

Popping the batter-filled pan
in the oven

Add the flour, and next the baking soda. Mix with a spatula, scraping around the edges of the bowl, until you have just combined the flour into the liquid ingredients. Ensuring that no patches of flour remain. Add the oil, and continue mixing with the spatula, until all is combined and cohesive. Pour the mix into a cake pan, greased with margarine, butter or oil. Bake in a 350F oven. 

From batter to (finally) cake. Success!

Check for doneness, at about 30 minutes. (n.b. The exact time depends, in part, on how much yogurt you used, and the size of your cake pan. As I originally used 1 1/4c yogurt, my cooking time was at least 45-50 min. I estimate the above measurements to take about 30-35 minutes). Use a toothpick in the centre to test for doneness (cake is done when the toothpick comes out clean, and the edges spring back when poked).

From puffy cake to grilled cake

Allow the cake to cool in its pan on a wire rack for at least 15-20 minutes. Then, to prevent a soggy bottom, carefully remove from the cake pan and let it finish cooling on the wire rack, another 15-20 min. n.b. I used an aluminum cake pan, margarine, and no parchment paper. I did not have a problem releasing the cake from the pan. But I did use a blunt dinner knife gently, around the sides of the pan, to help it release from the pan.

Underside of cake during cooling.

After separating it from the side, I inverted the cake over a wire rack (pictured). Because this meant the top of the cake was facing the rack, the rack burned "grill marks" into the soft, hot cake. No problem, that just adds character! If I wanted to prevent this, I'd take a plate, or non-stick cookie sheet, place it over the bottom of the cake, flip the entire thing right-side up, then carefully slide the cake back on to the cooling rack.


Glacé (topping)

Spoon the jam or jelly into a small glass or ceramic mixing bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice and mix well. Then heat up until the sauce has reduced to desired consistency (fairly thick, if you want it to adhere well to the top of the cake. But not too thick, if you want it to drip down the sides, as pictured). You can heat this up by either placing the bowl in a microwave oven for a couple of minutes (as I did), or, better results can be obtained by heating it in a small saucepan over the stove top. You have more control here over the desired consistency, and it takes about the same amount of time.