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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I just made this cake using vanilla almond yogurt. I bought a bug tub and knew I wouldn’t use it all in time so I found this recipe and tried. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t turn out because it wasn’t dairy yogurt but omg seriously the yummiest vanilla sponge cake I’ve ever eaten! Extra delicious eating it still warm from the oven! Only other differences I made was adding a dash of vanilla essence. I will be buying more of that yogurt just to make this cake! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Carmen, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
Could you use GF flour and have it turn out just as good?
Hi Kathy, I really don’t know, I have never baked with GF flour, you could try it and let me know. Thanks.
This cake was amazing! I made two: one with normal yogurt bought from the COOP and one with homemade yogurt and they both turned out delicious. My mom suggested adding some walnuts on top for the texture and extra crunch and it was a great addition to the already wonderful cake! Thank you~
Hi Cosmina, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. Good idea with the walnuts. Take care.
I haven’t yet made this cake, but I was wondering if you know if almond yogurt would work? I unfortunately cant have dairy and have a lot of almond yogurt to use up
Hi Carmen, I’m sure it would, as long as it’s yogurt it will work. Let me know how it goes. Take care.
I consider myself a pretty good baker. Well for looking like such an easy cake, I made the rookie mistake of forgetting to bring yogurt to room temperature. Cake came out pretty tasty but flatten and dense. I made the sauce with berry medley which was great. I wont give up on the recipe though. I will try again tomorrow and make sure to bring eggs and yogurt to room temperature.
Hi Daniela, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. And yes I have forgotten to do that too. Take care.
Can I make yogurt cake in sandwich tins as don’t have a cake tin
Hi Margaret, I wasn’t sure what a sandwich tin was so i googled it and it looks like it’s a cake pan or springform pan. If that’s right then sure it would work. Let me know.
This worked out really well for me! I used a cherry Greek yogurt so the cake has a slight cherry flavor.. so good! I did make sure all the ingredients were room temp. It took exactly 35 minutes for me. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Madi, thanks so much, glad you liked it. Take care.
Hi! I’ve made this recipe about 3 or so times now and my cake never seems to come out quite right, tastes amazing and I follow it to a T but it’s always quite dense or not fully cooked and not light and fluffy? Is it because my yoghurt hasn’t been room temperature? I’m not really sure what I could be changing! My eggs too small?
Thanks
Hi Jenny, it could be the oven temperature is off, and yes all ingredients should be room temperature, and you should be using large eggs. Hope that helps.
Amazing cake –tried this x2 upon request of a few mums, it gets better and better – I, added fresh passion fruit juice to the yoghurt wasn’t needed, I just did it to play with the flavor apart from that you can’t go past and shouldn’t need another recipe! STICK WITH THIS…
Hi Mands, thanks glad you liked it and yes I love that you can change the yogurt to change the taste.
Your recipe came up when I was looking for a recipe to use up vanilla yoghurt before it expired. What an easy cake to whip up! My cake is still cooling, but I will say, my apartment smells a-mazing and I can’t wait to dig in!
Hi Debra, thanks so much, I hope it was good.
Very easy. Just used a fork to beat the eggs. Bought a lot of sweet yoghurt (12 % sugar) by mistake – I misunderstood Fior di Latte – I was wanting plain yoghurt.
I didn’t add sugar to the mixture just a dollop of jam – turned out sweet enough for me.
Also used 1 yoghurt pot of wholemeal flour and not quite a full yoghurt pot of olive oil.
Thanks so much Sorry, glad you enjoyed it.
I made 20 cupcakes with this recipe. Only changes were, the oil for coconut and lemon zest and greet vanilla yogurt. Oh so good and pretty! I’ve made it with cake flour, regular bleached flor and gluten free.
Hi Karia, thanks so glad you enjoyed it.
The star rating doesn’t work but I give it 5! This is so easy to make and came out perfect. I used Greek yogurt and added a little coconut plus a sprinkle on the top before cooking. The timing was spot on, thanks.
Hi Rosie, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. I know there’s something up with 5 star. Have a great rest of the day.
Haha we must have learned that recipe in Italy around same time. And you just taught me what the bustina Di lievito per dolci is (I would substitute with 2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt). Works everytime… Use the yoghurt container, less wash up. And weird thing it is called plum cake. Nothing plum about it. Totally simple sponge or tea cake
Hi Lucy, I think that was the first cake everyone learns in Italy. And yes plum cake always made me wonder too!
Love this recipe! The cake turned out moist and fluffy, will definitely be making again. For some reason it won’t let me rate, but definitely 5 stars!
Hi Lily, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it.