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.
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Hi, I made this cake tonight. The first half has already been devoured. It smells incredible. I used raspberry yogurt and served with fresh vanilla custard, it’s divine! I used the yogurt pot for measurements. 2 yogurt pots of yogurt, 1 of oil, 2 of sugar, 3 of flour, 3 eggs and half a tablespoon of baking powder. Its light, bouncy and so soft. Thank you for this delicious recipe! It’s going to be a new favourite in this house!
Hi Holly, thanks so much so glad everyone enjoyed it. I like the idea of the raspberry yogurt and yes that’s how the recipe was originally shared with me, using the yogurt cups. 🙂 Have a great day.
I made this yesterday to bring to work today, it was gone in about 10 minutes. So delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Lo, thanks so much so glad everyone liked it. Have a great week.
Hello- I am making this recipe for Easter and I was wondering if I can sub olive oil for vegetable oil?
Hi Jenny, yes apparently you can. Let me know how you like it.
It looks and smells amazing. I used olive oil, vanilla yogurt and orange zest. I wish I could send a picture. The edges are golden crispy.
Hi Jenny, so glad , if you have instagram you can tag me #anitalianinmykitchen. Have a great week.
great result !! thank for the recipe !!!
Thanks Flavia, so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Hello! Is the 310 cal per serving or for the whole cake?
Hi Eliza, it’s 310 calories per serving. 🙂
Can I substitute the blueberries for raspberries for the sauce?
Hi Tanya, sure that would work. Hope you like 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 Jenne, I have never substituted with applesauce but I discovered you should cut the oil down to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2. Let me know how it turns out.
Rosemarie
I had made this in the past three times and always came great (with flavored yogurt), which could have been a 1% yogurt. The last two times, I’ve made it with 2% vanilla Greek and then with organic whole plain yogurt (adding lemon zest and vanilla extract for flavor) ,and I have had an issue both times !! Can you please clarify … your book states 150 grams of all purpose flour and on line the recipe states 225 grams for this recipe. Because my cake seems somewhat “wet” even though I’ve baked for the time said and checked with a wooden skewer for fineness, I am assuming maybe there is not enough flour in the recipe or perhaps the whole or 2% yogurt has too much fat for this cake ???? Can you please clarify ? I love your recipes and love the book and have had success with just about every recipe I’ve tried of yours but cannot get this yogurt cake (lately) to work. I’ve used same oven, same pan, etc so I’m not sure what the issue can be. Thanks!!
Hi Stefania, unfortunately I did not write the gram exchange on the book, so the blog recipe is the correct amount, which is 225 grams. Although since greek yogurt is thicker then regular yogurt you may want to add a couple of tablespoons of milk. Hope this helps, let me know how it goes. And thanks so much, glad you enjoy the recipes.
Hi rosemary, I’m loving your recipes but here in the U.K. we have plain and self-raising flour. Could you tell me what the Italian equivalent would be and also would the package of bp be 1tsp
Hi Bev, I actually make my recipes with all purpose flour (unless otherwise noted) so that would be plain flour in the UK. Also in the recipe (which is at the bottom of the post) I use 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder. The Italian packets are very small I think it works out to about 2-3 teaspoons. Hope that helps.
Thank you for the speedy reply. I’m excited to try your recipes
Your welcome, let me know how it goes.
Hi Rosemary,
My daughter and I love looking at your recipes!
I made the gingerbread recipe for my daughter’s birthday and my family loved it!
Here is a message from my daughter, Julia:
Hi! I just made the yogurt cake for the first time. I was just wondering if you think fruit yogurt is better for the cake. I used my favorite vanilla yogurt (made from almond milk) and topped it with powdered sugar. It didn’t completely taste like vanilla – do you think it would need more sugar or yogurt? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, thanks glad the gingerbread was a hit. And yes your daughter can use fruit yogurt, you can use any flavour of yogurt you want, that’s why this recipe is good. Hope that helps. Next time maybe she could add a 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract if she wants. Have a great week.
Thank you kindly!
This is one of my favourite cakes. Would this recipe work if I doubled it? I am bringing a cake to a big family gathering, and would like to make this in a large bundt pan (for ease of transport).
Hi Benita, thanks, I think you could double it with no problem. It may need to bake longer, so keep your eye on it. Let me know.
I just love your blog and look forward to it each week. Your recipes are fantastic! Thank you so much!
Hi Beanie, thanks so much so glad you enjoy them. Have a great rest of the week.
I’ve done a brilliant thing! I have my 11 year old bruce make this for all of us. She does it at least once a week for friends and family. She has the recipe memorised and has fun trying different flavored yogurt. So far, lemon yogurt with some added lemon zest nis my favorite. But she wants to try peach next and who am I to argue? It may be the best one yet! But until she’s sick of this , we will continue to try out lots if flavours. Thanks for a great recipe! And for the free time, watching her and encouraging her to cook.
Hi Anena, I love this. Anything to get kids in the kitchen! The lemon sounds amazing. My daughter likes to make cupcakes with the recipe (just cut down on the baking time). Have a great week.
Hi. I was wondering how far in advance I can make this cake and/or if this cake would freeze well?
Hi Cindy, well it will last 2-3 days but I think one day in advance of eating it but no more. And yes you can freeze it. Freeze it well wrapped and air tight (freeze it plain, before frosting or glazing), it will last up to two months frozen. Hope this helps.
Greek yogurt or regular? In your blog you say Greek is best, but in your recipe you say regular is best.
Hi Michelle, well to tell the truth I have used both and some people prefer the greek yogurt and others regular. I would probably use regular if I had to choose one type. Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for this excellent simple recipe. I have made it more times than I can count and have done just about any variation imaginable to suit the seasons. My kids adore it, it’s perfect for their little lunch boxes so I make it at least once per week. My personal favourite variation is to do one cup of flour and half a cup of cacao powder and add a cup of frozen cherries and a handful of chocolate chips. Once it cools I also pour a little bit of chocolate ganash overtop;it’s the bomb! Thank you again
Hi Maria, thanks so glad you enjoy and great idea, chocolate and cherries. Have a great weekend.