French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon

Bake #56 for 2025: French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon via Molly Wizenberg

This delicious and simple cake comes from Molly’s first book A Homemade Life. Equal parts memoir and recipes, it has some lovely stories and some don’t-miss dishes. I read it years ago, but recently came across a copy again and thought I’d give this one a try. The headnote explains how French yogurt cake is traditionally made using a yogurt pot as the measuring tool, but since American yogurt doesn’t often come in a similar container, she adapted the recipe accordingly. It’s simple, quick to make, and delicious. After trying it tonight, Charlie confidently stated, “I could eat that whole thing.” Pretty good feedback, I’ll say.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups (180g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup (113g) well-stirred plain whole-milk yogurt (not low-fat or nonfat)
• 1 cup (198g) sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (99g) vegetable oil

For the syrup:

• 1/4 cup (28g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

For the icing:

• 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice*

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F; grease & line a 9” cake pan, set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the lemon zest and whisk to combine.
3. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, oil, and eggs, stirring well. Add the flour and thoroughly combine. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 25-35 min, until a tester comes out clean – do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 min. Then, invert the cake to remove from pan and return to the rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
5. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon juice for the syrup. (Original recipe does not call for this step, but I used a toothpick to poke holes all over the top of the cake before applying the syrup.) Spoon or brush the syrup all over the warm cake. Cool completely & transfer to a plate.
6. In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients, whisking well to dissolve the sugar and remove lumps. Spoon over the cooled cake. Serve immediately for a soft icing, or wait an hour for it to set up before serving.

Notes:

• *The original recipe calls for 3 Tbsp juice in the icing, but I prefer a thicker finish so I reduced it.
• The recipe note also suggests trying an orange, tangerine, or Meyer lemon version as well.