Easy Yogurt Cake
Easy Yogurt Cake, a simple easy and delicious Snack or Dessert Cake Recipe made with your favourite flavor of Yogurt. You can use either Greek or Regular. Change your Yogurt Flavor, change your Cake!
I happened on this Easy Yogurt Cake Recipe almost 20 years ago, from a woman I encountered in the local supermarket, buying yogurt no less.
My Italian was far from perfect at the time (still isn’t perfect I might add), but a cake recipe I understood. In Italy, yogurt usually comes in single servings of 125 grams.
Recipe Ingredients
- Yogurt – either regular or greek yogurt will work
- Eggs – large room temperature
- Vegetable oil – I use sunflower or corn oil
- Sugar
- Flour – all purpose or cake flour
- Baking powder
- Powdered sugar – also known as icing or confectioners sugar – for dusting the finished cake
So the recipe was as follows …
2 containers of yogurt (containers are 125 grams each), 1 container of oil, 2 containers of sugar and 3 containers of flour, 3 eggs and 1 package of baking powder, now how easy is that? And it makes the perfect snack, breakfast cake or even some Yummy Strawberry Cupcakes.
I make this cake quite often and I recently made the cake with low fat regular yogurt, zest of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. It was gone in a day!
How to make Yogurt Cake
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer on medium speed, lightly beat the eggs.
Add the oil, sugar and yogurt and beat.
Add flour and baking powder and beat until well combined.
Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake until done, test with a toothpick, when it comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached it’s ready!
Let cool completely then dust with powdered sugar before serving.
How to make Homemade cake flour
For every cup of all purpose flour, remove two tablespoons and replace with two tablespoons of corn starch. Be sure to sift the flour and cornstarch together a couple of times, this way it is sure to be properly combined and lump free. Cake flour in cakes will give you a very tender texture and fine crumb, it will also help the cake to rise.
Why bake with room temperature ingredients?
With cakes and other baking, it’s always better to use room temperature ingredients. So, take any cold ingredients out of the refrigerator an hour ahead of time or sooner if it’s cool in your kitchen. Room temperature ingredients blend easier, creating a silky batter, which will help to create a light tender baked good.
What makes a cake fall?
- There are a lot a reasons a cake may fall, but the most common ones are, your oven temperature is off, you can always check it with an oven thermometer to check this.
- You open the oven door too early. Never open the oven door before 25-30 minutes of baking.
- Once the batter is mixed it should be baked, letting a cake batter sit too long can cause it to fall. The baking powder or baking soda usually start acting immediately and will only last for a very short period of time, therefore if the cake batter is left to stand before baking then there is always a risk that the baking powder or soda will have expired by the time that the cake goes into the oven.
- Your baking powder or soda has expired and is no long active.
- Use room temperature ingredients.
- The pan size might not be the correct size, sometimes using a bundt pan will help.
How to serve the cake
I think it depends on when you are serving the cake, if you serve it for breakfast then a little dusting of powdered sugar is perfect. If you want to serve it as a dessert then why not serve it with a delicious Blueberry Sauce, a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of ice cream or even dress it up as a Strawberry Shortcake?
What’s the best yogurt to use?
And it can also be made with any flavour of yogurt, I find that greek yogurt, 0 fat (yes 0 fat!) or regular yogurt both work well. If you use greek yogurt then it is a good idea to use 3/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup of milk, that’s because greek yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt. Each makes this Easy Yogurt Cake super moist and delicious.
FAQs
The cake can be stored well covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also store it in the refrigerator, make sure it is covered well so no air gets to it, which can dry it out. Bring it to room temperature before serving. It will keep for up to 5-6 days in the fridge.
Once the cake is completely cooled, double wrap it with either foil or plastic wrap and then place in a freezer safe bag. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let the cake thaw overnight on the counter before serving, or overnight in the fridge fully wrapped.
Adding yogurt helps to make a cake moister.
Yes you can although you may want to add a flavoring such as vanilla, orange, lemon or even almond.
So choose your favourite fruit greek yogurt or regular fruit yogurt and turn on the oven. This cake is also a perfect Easy Summer Dessert Recipe. Enjoy!
More Delicious Italian Cakes
- Mascarpone Cake with Raspberry Cream
- Tablespoon Italian Lemon Cake
- Classic Italian Tiramisu Layer Cake
Easy yogurt cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup any flavour yogurt** (I find flavoured regular natural yogurt to be the best / room temperature )
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1½ cups all purpose flour or cake flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
EXTRAS
- 2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar
BLUEBERRY SAUCE
- 1 cup blueberries
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F degrees (180 cm). Grease an 8 inch (20cm) cake pan or a 9½-10 inch (24 cm) bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer on medium speed, lightly beat the eggs approximately 30 seconds, add oil, sugar and yogurt, beat for 1 minute until smooth, add flour and baking powder and beat until well combined approximately another minute.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until tested done (when a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out dry or with a few crumbs attached). Let cool 15-20 in the pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
BLUEBERRY SAUCE
- In a medium pot mix together berries, sugar, cornstarch, water and lemon juice, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until desired thickness. Pour into a bowl, let cool completely and or refrigerate.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from February 7, 2014.
.
Hi, I’m a disperate italian girl living in Oregon. I’m trying to make cakes with baking powder instead of my lovely Italian yeast “Pan degli Angeli” and they never rise up, especially this one that is one of my favorite cake just because it is definitly supereasy!
I will try with your recipe, and hopefully it will work! Thank you so much!
Hi Paola, I actually use Canadian Baking Powder for my baking recipes because most of my readers are from North America so it should work no problem. Let me know.
I MKE THIS CAKE OFTEN BUT NOW I NEED NO SUGAR, SO I USED STEVIA IN PLACE OF SUGAR. THE TEXTURE IS DIFFERENT BUT IT IS STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITES. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL RECIPES. SANDY
Hi Sandra, thanks so much, so glad you enjoy the recipes. Have a great evening.
I just wanted to say thank you very much for this beautiful recipe and easy to follow instructions and video. I am new to baking, this is the first cake I have ever made and it came out perfect and tasted delicious. I have now made this cake three times and every time it has came out perfect with not a crumb going to waste!
Hi Johanna, thanks so much and thanks for using my recipe as your first cake! 🙂 This is the one my daughters make all the time. So glad you enjoyed it. Have a great week.
I made this cake today. It was very delicious and so moist. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you for sharing Rosemary.
Hi Lora, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it.
Hi, question, how would I go about substituting the sugar for applesauce in this recipe? Would I cut the oil down or just leave it out?
Hi Liz, apparently you can substitute the applesauce for sugar 1 for 1 and you should reduce the oil by 1/4 cup. Hope that helps, I have never made it this way, so if you try it let me know how it turns out. 🙂
I tried this cake twice and both times it failed. The first time I baked it in an 8×8 pan. The centre rose so high, like a big bubble (right from the bottom). When I took the cake out of the oven to cool, it fell but left the bubble in the centre. It was very dense inside. The second time, I baked the cake in a tube pan (like the one in the video). The cake appeared to be rising nicely. Again, when I removed it from the oven, it fell a bit. It was also very dense inside. I’m puzzled. This is a very simple recipe yet I can’t get the cake to look like the one in the video. Any adise???
Hi Wendy, I make this cake at least once a week and it turns out, I think it could be your oven is not heating properly (that happened to me a couple of years ago) I would check the oven temperature to make sure it is heating properly. Hope that helps let me know.
I would use the straw berry youghurt to make this great dessert cake.this recipe is amazing.
Hi Dannie, I use strawberry yogurt all the time and it comes out so good. Hope you enjoy it.
Hello!
I just found this recipe on Pinterest while looking for something easy and delicious to take to a meeting.
It has just become my go-to recipe! I put lemon icing on top and everyone loved it!
Thank you !
Katie
Hi Katie, thanks so much, so glad everyone loved it. 🙂
How did you make the lemon icing?? That sounds great!!!
have you ever used G.F. flour in this?
Hi Pam, unfortunately I have never used GF flour in this cake or any of the recipes, although it seems that someone has used different flours for it and it worked out. So if you want give it a try and let me know how it goes. Hope that helps.
I would like to stack this cake. Would it survive being leveled to keep the layers straight or is it too soft?
Hi Andrea, I actually did a double layer strawberry and cream cake with it, and it held up fine. Let me know how it goes.
Awesome. Thank you. Going to bake and assemble today.
Great let me know how it goes.
Hi Rosemary,
I hope you are doing fine. I have been making this yum yum cake since last 2 years and it always came out perfect. But since last 5 times, my cake has gluey streaks in it and is dense…to the extent of tasting uncooked. Please help me out what am I doing wrong 🙁 I take care not to overmix the dry and wet ingredients and preheat oven properly at 180 degrees Celsius…I never open oven door before time…and knife inserted at the end comes out dry. But there are always dense streaks in it. ..yet I keep facing this issue. Please help me out
Hi Anna, thanks so much. It seems the reason for that, is that you could be beating too long or at too high a speed (no higher than medium) and when you add the flour lower the speed and combine gently. At a higher speed you develop too much gluten in the flour which can cause the cake to fall once baked and produce those gluey streaks. You could also use room temperature ingredients and check your oven temperature to make sure it is reading properly. Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
Hello! Is the 310 cal per serving or for the whole cake?
Hi Melissa, it’s 310 for a serving. 🙂
Greetings from Toronto. I was looking to use up some yogurt and this cake caught my eye. Rosemary, this was one of the best cakes I have ever made (and I bake a lot of them!). I used Yoplait’s banana, coconut, pineapple yogurt and it turned out divine – gone in 1 day :). Thanks for such an easy, excellent recipe
Hi Xena, thanks so much, so glad you like it. It’s a big favourite in our house too. And that yogurt combination sounds amazing. Have a wonderful day.
I made this cake and it came out perfectly!
Hi Abby, thanks so glad you liked it.
Hi – just made this with Liberte cherry yogurt. Cut sugar amount to 1/2 cup and added chopped pluots and a little chopped nectarine. Sweet level perfect and it is DELICIOUS!! Looks lovely, too, when you slice and see the “jewels” of pluot (red) and nectarine (yellow). Definitely make again worthy. Thank you!
Hi rosem So glad you enjoyed it, and sounds delicious how you made it.