Lemon Yogurt Cake

For this Lemon Yogurt Cake I have added lemon zest to the cake batter and then to add even more citrus flavour, a lemon glaze is poured over the baked cake. Yogurt makes this cake soft and moist. I normally use a whole milk plain yogurt (Greek style) as I like its thick texture and rich and tangy flavour. This batter doesn't contain butter, instead we add a flavourless oil. By that I mean vegetable, corn, safflower, Canola, or even a light olive oil. The oil, along with the yogurt, gives the cake its moist texture, plus it will keep the cake from becoming too firm, like butter would, if you store it in your refrigerator. This cake is excellent plain, or you could serve it with fresh fruit and/or softly whipped cream. And while not absolutely necessary, I do like to pour a tangy Lemon Glaze over the top of the cake once it has been baked and cooled. This glaze is simply a mixture of confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and I love both its tangy flavour and how it dries to a hard matte finish.

Lemon Yogurt Cake:
1½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached (195 g)
1 tsp. baking powder (4 g)
½ tsp. baking soda (2 g)
¼ tsp. fine sea salt (1 g)
2 large eggs, at room temperature (100 g out of shell)
½ cup flavourless oil, such as safflower, corn, vegetable, or Canola (120 mL/g)
¾ cup whole milk plain yogurt, at room temperature (180 mL/g)
1¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract (5 g)
1 lemon, freshly zested
1 cup Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Granular) (200 g)

Lemon Glaze:
¾ cup Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Powdered), sifted (90 g)
1½-2 Tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, an 8" (20 cm) round cake pan (or spring form pan). Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

For the Lemon Yogurt Cake:
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 35-45 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.

For the Lemon Glaze:
Place the confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Add about 1½-2 Tbsp. of the lemon juice and stir to combine. Add more lemon juice or confectioners' 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.

Makes one 8" (20 cm) cake.