Tuesday, March 16, 2010

French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon

Here is the delicious lemon cake from A Homemade Life that I was telling you about. There's lemon zest in the batter, then you pour a lemon syrup over the cake while it's still warm. Once it has cooled, you pour a sugary lemon glaze over the top. Are your cheeks zinging yet? Time to step into the confessional. This is my second attempt at this cake. The first one was baked to the exact directions of 30 minutes. When I took it out it had a perfect dome on top, think St Paul's. Turning away for a brief second, my gaze returned to a sunken crater...think meteorite in Utah! 'How bad could it be?' I asked myself as I began drizzling syrup over the golden sponge which then pooled like a lemony swimming pool in the crater. It quickly became apparent that things were bad...real bad. My cake was now oozing through the bottom, extruding through the holes of my cooling rack and pooling on my stove top. In nuclear terms, it was a core meltdown. Now bless R for his 'if one is good then two are better' rule when it comes to buying things. With the second pot of yogurt that he brought home with the other ingredients, I whipped up another cake. This time adding on another 10 minutes to the baking time. When seven toothpicks came out clean I was confident that it was well and truly done. The first cake wasn't a total loss as I cut out the soft centre and cut up the ring around the outside into fingers. Popping them into a Ziploc bag I sent them back with The Heiress, who was home this weekend, for snacking on. There's that saying 'when life presents you with lemons, make lemonade' but in my case it was cake. Thanks again, Molly Wizenberg!

14 comments:

  1. *drools* That looks amazing.

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  2. You have really sold me on this recipe book Darlene. I love cook books with a bit of life thrown in. Currently am enjoying "Jewish Cookin, Jewish Cooks, by Ramona Koval which has lots of anecdotes and delicious Jewish European recipes.

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  3. All that zingy lemoniness sounds so delicious--mmm! And well done for persevering. I would have had a meltdown right along with the first cake! K x

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  4. Absolutely delicious sounding, and looking. I love that 'if life presents you with lemons, make lemonade' saying - and you pulled it off perfectly in this case! Two cakes are always better than one, even if one has a slightly sunken middle! I will be making this for a spring time treat when I return from South Africa - I love lemon cake and lemon yoghurt cake sounds wonderfully light and refresghing. Lucky Heiress getting to take back cake with her to university...can you send me some next time one goes wrong?!

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  5. Hehe - I love the way you resurrected a potential disaster :) I don't believe in having cooking disasters, one can generally (unless it's burnt to a crisp) turn it into something slightly difference...

    It looks absolutely wonderful and seems to be disappearing rapidly, so that seems to be testament to the taste.

    *envious*

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  6. Oh yummy! *sigh* I do miss having an oven!!

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  7. This looks delicious, though I love anything with lemon zest. Can't wait to borrow the book and try this recipe for myself!

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  8. We love this cake around here and have been toying with the idea of using another citrus fruit. Grapefruit?

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  9. makedoandread, Get out your mixing bowls!

    Merenia, Oh well, in that case this is definitely a title for you!

    Kristina, You made me laugh! Yes, you would have been in tears. I remember one of your experiences with pastry!

    booksnob, I'm tempted to ask The Heiress if she has any cake left but I think I know the answer already. Hmmm, two cakes are better than one eh. You have me thinking of death by lemon. Imagine two layers with lemon curd in the middle...zing!

    verity, The two slices that I hid in the freezer for waaay later are gone as well. We are no good at pacing ourselves. Do I care? Nah.

    skirmishofwit, To live in a flat in Hampstead, I could forego the oven. Yes, like you, I may miss the oven but that's about it.

    Captive Reader, Oh good! Post a picture or two when you do, please.

    Tara, Grapefruit would be amazing! My husband was wondering about orange. Why should the lovely lemon get all the attention?

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  10. This looks amazing, and I love how you salvaged the first cake. Orange might be delicious, too! The paperback is due out any day... will have to make a special trip to the bookstore.

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  11. Hehe - I have been known to eat frozen cake straight from the freezer in moments of desperate need...

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  12. JoAnn, I received an email yesterday that my copy was ready for release, hooray!

    verity, Oh yes! I'm a fan of cookies straight from the freezer, they last longer that way.

    A Bookish Space, We just about lemon-ed ourselves out but are quite willing to do it again!

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  13. That cake looks perfect, so you didn't even need a third time's a charm. And what does it matter if the first one sunk in a little if it was good?!

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