This lemon yogurt cake is the perfect summer dessert and even tastes better on the second (and third) day after baking. It’s so easy to make, you don’t even need an electric mixer! Try it with a side of fresh berries or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
For those interested in making a healthier version of this, you can use fat-free yogurt and a sugar substitute – add about 10 minutes to your baking time.
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
- 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
- 3 extra-large eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
For the Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line the bottom of a standard-sized loaf pan with parchment paper – grease and flour the pan.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes – until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear – set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool the cake.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.
Original recipe found here
This cake sounds so refreshing and looks gorgeous! I love lemon-flavored desserts in hot weather, and am looking forward to making this.
Picture perfect!
This cake is awesome! I would love to try it with the low/no fat alternate directions and make a refreshing berry trifle out of it!
What a great idea to use this in a trifle – thanks for the suggestion!
What a gorgeous colour! Looks beautiful
Anything lemon is right up my alley! I would love a slice right this second!
That looks amazingly delicious!
Lemon Cake is one of my favorites. Last time I used home made Limoncello for the glaze! Love your photo…
Thank you – I like the Limoncello idea, I’ll have to try that out next time!
That looks soooo refreshing and good and I love that’s it’s easy too! Congrats on top 9! Well deserved…
Jenny
Wow, this looks great! I love how the lemon lightens up a summer dessert.
That is one perfect cake… great photo and recipe! Congrats on top 9!
Is there anything you can use in place of yogurt? I’m not a big fan of using yogurt in my baking
I’ve read that you can substitute sour cream or buttermilk for yogurt when baking, but I’ve never tried either or those in this recipe. If I had to choose, I’d probably go with the sour cream. Let me know how it turns out!
I wonder how I could get this to work in a bundt pan… probably double the recipe?? Or is this too soft that it would fall apart trying to get it out of that kind of pan?
The Heritage Cook // Aug 1, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Orange-Glazed Pound Cake…
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I’ve never doubled this recipe before, but believe that it would work – watch the cooking time carefully. Surprisingly, this cake is pretty resilient so I don’t think you’d need to worry about it falling apart. Let me know how it turns out!
I love baking with yogurt…it always makes recipes turn out so moist. And lemon flavored desserts are perfect for summer. This looks like a definite keeper of a recipe
I just love lemon in the summer, and this looks SO moist and delicious! Yum!
Im making this right now. Looks so yummy. And so summery……
Should I pour the glaze over top the day I will be serving it or can it be done 3 days before? This cake looks delicious!!!
Thank you! I would pour the confectioners sugar glaze over the top of the cake the day you serve it – that way it won’t dry out. Enjoy!
Thank you!!
I made this last night and it was really yummy! I doubled the recipe and made it in a bundt pan, and served it with a raspberry sauce on the side. My family thought it was great. Thanks for the recipe!
Woops, I baked this for the allotted time, stuck several toothpicks in it to ensure it was finished baking, and when I took it out of the oven it collapsed (my first clue something was wrong) and then when I went to flip it out of the dish it gooshed batter all over the place! I don’t know how 10 toothpick holes came out clean yet the inside was still raw! I put it back in the oven for 20 minutes. It’s still pretty doughy on the inside, and the outside is much darker than I’d like. Not sure where I went wrong!
you cannot imagine how I am happy with this recipe…I made it 3 times and hubby lllllloves it…thank you.
Thank you – this recipe is definitely a winner!
I made this yesterday and it was incredible. Moist, not too sweet, sliced nicely. I skipped any glaze and just enjoyed it with a cup of coffee
Definitely adding this to my recipe rotation. I loved using the whole milk greek yogurt, the cake had a bite of that tartness and mixed with the hint of lemon…mmmmmm!
Just made it…so good..going to make it again tomorrow for co-workers
I made this today and it came out great! I used 4 large eggs in place of the 3 extra large eggs called for in the recipe and cut the sugar in both the batter (to ~ 7/8 cup), syrup (~1T less than called for), and glaze (~7/8 cup). I added 1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest to the glaze and the cake turned out not too sweet, and the perfect lemon flavor for me. The texture of the cake was not too light; it had the perfect density. I used non-fat greek yogurt, so it was fairly healthy. I will be making this again!