Friday 17 August 2012

The easiest cake in the world

While I was staying with mum last week, not only did I get the recipe inspiration for a delicious gooseberry & elderflower cake, but she also passed me, somewhat surreptitiously, some scribbled instructions for the Yoghurt Pot Cake.

This is one of those genius cakes that you wish you'd known about forever. There's a basic recipe, and you can take it and adapt it pretty much infinitely.

I thought I would share it with you, because, if you like having homemade cake in the house (and I've said it before, but I get downright twitchy if there's nothing in the tins) it really will make your life easier.

The basic measurement is a 150 ml pot of yoghurt. Put the contents in a bowl and add 2 pots of sugar, 1 pot of oil, 3 pots of self-raising flour and 2 beaten eggs.

To this concoction you can add anything. The scribbled instructions I got from mum read as follows:

"Add anything:
Cocoa
Ground Almonds (just add less flour)
Lemon juice & zest
Vanilla essence/ carrots/apples etc etc"

Finally, mix together and "shove in at 160C for about 45 mins

While I didn't have a 150ml pot of yoghurt in the fridge, I had the end of a large pot of blueberry yoghurt and also some 0% fat natural (so virutous) needing eating. I didn't have the pot so I just measured up to 150ml/pot, and made

Blueberry & almond cake

Using the method above, my ingredients were: approx 75ml each blueberry & natural yoghurt; 2 pots (i.e. measured up to 300ml) of soft light brown sugar; 1 pot (measured up to 150 ml - etc etc) of ground almonds, 2 pots of SR flour, 1 pot sunflower oil and about 100g blueberries. I lined a 20cm square cake tin and used that.

And the result? Well judge for yourself




It was moist and very very tasty. The kids loved it and I can guarantee that it will be gracing their linchboxes next term in various guises. I'm thinking raspberries (some from the freezer, gathered from the PYO earlier this summer) and lemon next time - what will you put in yours?




16 comments:

  1. I love yoghurt cake. Such an easy recipe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is easy - although just re-reading I should have made it clear that when I made my version, I didn't have a 150 yog pot so measured up to 150ml of everything for each pot's worth in a measuring thing (so measured up to 300ml of sugar, 150ml oil, 150 ml ground almonds etc).

      Delete
  2. Oh RJ with your cake and my drink we could rule the world! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely cake and I love the "add anything" part. Nice plates too x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah - the 'add anything' bit is the bit I like the best!

      Delete
  4. I love the idea behind this cake! Dessert anytime!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Simple and delicious! Thanks for sharing :O)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gosh, I'm sure I had this recipe before and forgot about it, it certainly sounds familiar. Will bookmark for later experimentation. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's one that lots of people will have knocking around - just thgouth I'd bring it to general attention!

      Delete
  7. That looks delicious! I was planning to do some baking with the kids this weekend so will try that recipe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think it would be great to make with the kids - too easy :-)

      Delete
  8. That cake is probably the first one I ever learnt to bake! It was a favourite in our house. But I must say I never ventured passed adding chocolate but trying all sort of combinations is a brilliant idea !
    xxx
    ps. Have a fab time in France. If you have time go to Collignon beach (near Cherbourg, it's indicated if you take the direction Caen leaving from the ferry) and have some sausages and chips from the cafe on the beach, they're gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a beautiful combination of blueberries and almonds. Perfect for afternoon tea. Love the fact that it is very straightforward I am not a huge fan of complex recipes so this ticks the box. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This looks really nice - except I'm not a fan of almonds - I wonder if polenta would work instead?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you can put anything in it - that's the beauty of it. Kids can't take anything with nuts in it to school so I am going to try a version with oatmeal - bu you can also just use flour.

      Delete

I LOVE comments - please leave one. Unfortunately, I have been getting hideous amounts of SPAM so please can you do the word verification thingy?

UA-44695690-1