Lemon Yogurt Cake

Ingredients

Cake

195g (1½ cups) all purpose flour I use Gold Medal flour here
1 teaspoon (4g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (2g) baking soda
¼ teaspoon (1g) fine kosher salt
2 large eggs (100g out of shell) at room temperature
120 ml/g (½ cup) flavorless oil (safflower, corn, vegetable, canola, light olive oil)
180 ml/g (¾ cup) whole milk plain yogurt at room temperature
1¼ teaspoons (5g) pure vanilla extract
Zest (outer yellow skin) of 1-2 lemons
200g (1 cup) granulated white sugar

Glaze

90g (¾ cup) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar sifted
1½ to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Cake

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pan (or springform pan). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl, stir or whisk together the eggs, oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, stir the lemon zest into the sugar. Then add the lemon sugar to the egg mixture.
Finally, add the wet ingredients to the dry flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for about 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out just clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely.

Glaze

Place the confectioners sugar in a bowl. Add lemon juice and stir to combine. Add more lemon juice or powdered sugar if needed to get a fairly thick spreadable glaze. Slowly pour the glaze over the top of the cake and, with the back of a spoon or offset spatula, spread the glaze to the edges of the cake. Let the glaze dry completely before covering and storing.

Notes

18 July 2024: This was perfect! Somewhat similar to a pound cake but lighter and more flavorful due to the lemon. I baked it on rack 2 for 18 minutes, then rotated the cake and continued to bake for another 16 minutes for a total of 34 minutes. Although I don’t often use glazes, this one was perfect.

11 August 2024: Made this again today. I used Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour, and a mix of 120g Greek yogurt and 20g sour cream. For flavorings, I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla, ¼ teaspoon lemon extract, and ¼ teaspoon lemon oil. Into the sugar I mixed the zest of two lemons. I baked the cake on rack 2 for 17 minutes, rotated it, and baked for another 16 minutes, 40 seconds, for a total of 33 minutes, 40 seconds.

30 August 2024: I baked this again using the same ingredients as last time, although I rotated the cake after 20 minutes, and baked it for a total of 33 minutes, 30 seconds.