Ingredients and equipment
For a cake yielding around eight slices, prepare 125 g of plain yoghurt, three eggs, 160 g of sugar, 200 g of wheat flour, 80 ml of oil and two teaspoons of baking powder. Use a round tin around twenty centimetres across, greased and floured or lined with suitable baking paper. Allow fifteen minutes for preparation and thirty to forty minutes in the oven. Preheat to 180°C with top and bottom heat. Measure the ingredients before starting.
Mix the liquid ingredients
Beat the eggs and sugar for two or three minutes until even and slightly paler. Add the yoghurt and oil and mix again. Flavouring is not necessary, but finely grated zest from half a washed lemon can be added if you like it. Avoid the white pith. This stage should create an even base for the flour, without large areas of separated oil on the surface.
Add the flour and baking powder
Combine the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add to the liquid base in two or three batches and fold only until no dry flour remains visible. Scrape the bowl’s sides with a spatula to check the mixture is distributed. Transfer to the tin and smooth the surface. Avoid beating for a long time after adding flour. The batter should be even, but the aim is not to work it indefinitely.
Check that the cake is baked
Place in the centre of the oven and start checking near thirty minutes, without repeatedly opening the door early on. Insert a skewer into the centre: it should emerge without raw batter attached. If the top colours too quickly, monitor baking and protect it in accordance with your oven’s safe use. Timing varies with the tin and equipment. Rest for around ten minutes before turning out, then cool on a rack or another suitable surface.
Make considered changes
On the first attempt, keep the quantities and observe the result. Sweetened yoghurt, a different flour or a wider tin changes important variables. If experimenting, alter one at a time and record the effect. The image is illustrative and may show a different presentation of baked goods. The recipe includes no icing; serve it plain or choose an accompaniment separately. Recording tin size and your oven’s timing helps reproduce the texture.
