Ingredients
1/2 C yoghurt
3 eggs
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 C unbleached plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C vegetable oil (olive oil is fine)
2-3 apples, tart variety like granny smith if possible
2 tbs apricot jam for glazing (optional)
Summary
Based on a classic yoghurt cake shared here, with additions of apple and vanilla. Add any fruit to this cake recipe – pears and cinnamon, or frozen blueberries perhaps. Lemon zest in the batter and a lemon syrup on top (as in the original recipe above) would be a fine use of winter lemons but in this case I’ve used a couple of apples from the weekly box. Another really easy and reliable recipe and doesn’t even involve creaming eggs and sugar with any kitchen appliances beyond a whisk or a fork. Wonderful!
Apple and Vanilla Yoghurt Cake
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Combine the yoghurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a generous bowl and mix well (with said fork or whisk) until combined. Add the flour and baking powder, and lightly mix until just incorporated. Gradually stir in the oil and let it come together with minimal fuss. Don’t be concerned that it looks really oily at first, you will end up with a fairly wet batter but all is well.
Pour the batter mixture into a greased and lined 9-inch cake tin. If you’d like to add chopped fruit to the inside of the cake, pour in half of the mixture and top with one (or two) chopped apples before adding the remaining batter. Quarter, core and slice the remaining apple, laying them around the top of the cake as you please. Pop it into the oven for 30-40 minutes. It’s done when the sides are coming away and a toothpick in the centre comes out clean. You want this one to err on the moist side, so don’t be tempted to go another 5 if it’s looking good. Cool in the tin for about 20 mins, then turn it out onto a rack.
If you’ve some apricot jam handy, consider a sticky glaze on top to make it look extra special and shiny. While the cake is still warm, heat the apricot jam in a small pan (or microwave). Brush over the cake with a pastry brush.
Hints and Tips
Pear and Cinnamon variation:
Add 1 tsp ground cinnamon to the batter.
Add 2 chopped pears into the batter, and neatly slice a third to arrange on top.
Very tasty.
This was the perfect recipe for a last minute decision to bake! I replaced the sugar with 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, pears instead of apples and normal yoghurt with coconut yoghurt. Was pretty good! Only issue was that it didn’t turn golden on top and I didn’t leave it in the oven for longer than 40 minutes out of concern that I could ruin the cake.
Thanks Helena, and nice swap of the maple syrup – so yummy in baking. No doubt it still went down a treat without the extra gold glow on top 😉
I made this today – and it was delicious!! I had to use brown sugar as that’s all I had and glazed it afterwards with marmelade (with the lumpy peel taken out). Forty minutes in a fan forced oven was perfect – only a bit of cracking on the top.
It sounds delicious!
Could you advise any alternative to make it gluten-free?
Hi Molly, definitely worth making this with a gluten-free flour mix. It’s very forgiving so use whatever you have!
Ive baked this cake twice, first time with Pears, second time with Apple, bother were really yummy,
Had a few slight variations of used half a cup of brown sugar(instead of 1 cup) in the recipe and added a basic icing mix of butter and icing sugar drizzled on top.