Guilt-Less Lemon Yogurt Cake, Ina Garten - Close my eyes moist

I've been a huge fan of Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, for quite a while. . What I like about her cooking show (and recipes) is that they are "do-able" for me. She's versatile in that she offers great recipes for breakfast, lunch or dinner-- and she also has some fabulous dessert ideas.

Around Christmas, I bought her recent book "Back to Basics". I've made several of those recipes, that turned out to be delicious. This week, I bought "Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again". COSTCO had the book for $19.00, so how could I resist?

It's a great book. Visual as I am, the photos sucked me right in. I have post-its marking many recipes I want to make.

My husband and I were invited for dinner at some friend's. I know that the wife is trying to be health conscious, for her husband's sake. He's from the South, so I seriously wanted to make a Southern Coconut Cake. Instead, I decided to make the Lemon Yogurt Cake recipe that was in this cookbook, so that I wouldn't sabotage her efforts to trim his waist. I've seen this recipe making it's rounds in Blogosphere, and I bookmarked it several times. This recipe was very simple to make, and I liked that I didn't need to set up my Kitchen Aid, nor to soften butter.

I have to tell you-- this recipe is a winner! Like the book title says, I will make this again and again.

Here's how I made it:

With baking, I definitely want all of my ingredients prepped and ready to go. Here's a tip-- to bring my eggs to room temperature, I soak them in very warm water for a few minutes. You'll need, flour, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, baking powder, kosher salt, pure vanilla, yogurt (I used non-fat Greek Yogurt, because of it's thickness) and vegetable oil.

Be sure to prep your pan with parchment paper. I found a product from Wilton called "Cake Release", at my local "Michael's Store". Ever since my bundt cake disaster, this has not failed to keep my cakes from sticking!

I stopped buying sifters. I prefer to dump all of my dry ingredients and, using a silicone spatula, I stir it around and it's all sifted. Easy! Now, to prep the wet ingredients:

What do you know?! I got two egg yolks in one! Is this counted as one egg or two? I counted it as two..

Whisk all the wet ingredients...

Then, slooooooowly incorporate the dry ingredients...


Last, fold in the oil:


Pour the batter into the prepared pan (you can use a bundt pan, if you prefer):

Bake at 350F for 50 minutes-- I always underbake for about 7 minutes, just to be sure. A toothpick came out clean in 45 minutes.


In the meantime, mix the remaining sugar and lemon juice in a pot and cook until clear-- this takes minutes. Set aside and cool.

Once the cake cooled, I had 15 minutes before we had to leave. I quickly made a glaze of confectioner's sugar and lemon juice and poured this over the loaf. Time was running out, so here's the cake, sliced:


I wish I had a nice plated shot to show you, but I thought our hosts would find it odd that I brought my camera. Just trust me, that this turned out to be a very moist cake, and a big hit. I can easily see this being made with orange or lime, for a variation.

It's all gone. Every slice. Know what else? I think this cake is so moist and flavorful that you really don't have to glaze it. You can trim more calories this way and not feel disappointed.

Today is Mother's Day. My boys are BBQ-ing for me-- salmon, fresh corn and a green salad with strawberries and my balsamic vinaigrette. This is where I spent an hour all to myself-- not a soul in sight. This is our subdivision lap pool, swimming pool and jacuzzi. It's part of our HOA fees. I gambled that moms would be out to brunch. I was right. I'll pass on going out on Mother's Day. It's too busy. Home Sweet Home... feet up, and not lifting a spatula in the kitchen. Works for me!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!