The perfect moist, not-too-sweet, plain cake to eat with a cup of tea or coffee. It’s also yummy with a scoop of ice cream or a spoonful of your favourite yogurt. Clotilde Dusoulier is a French food writer and cookbook author. This cake is in her excellent book “Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen”. She writes in the intro to the recipe that it’s great any time of day. She describes this cake “as a staple of French home baking.” I’ll add this: It’s delicious and a cinch to make.
1 cup plain yogurt, preferably whole milk
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp rum (optional)
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
Good pinch of fine sea salt
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease bottom and sides of 10-inch springform pan with oil or butter. (Use parchment paper to line bottom of pan if not springform.)
In large bowl, whisk together yogurt and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, oil and rum; whisk again.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to yogurt mixture; stir until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in oven about 35 minutes or until top is golden brown and cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Transfer to rack; cool about 10 minutes. Run knife around edge of cake to loosen. Unclip sides of springform pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.