After days of pondering over what would fill my many free hours in the day, I finally settled on the standard for young women in their late twenties and early thirties – a food blog. It seems that all of the intellectual ladies I know and love have become foodies and bloggers, and I decided to join the club.
But what to do for my first post? Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a sweet tooth that has probably paid for my dentist's Ferrari. It seemed, therefore, that I should start “Whisking Whimsy” with a dessert. But what dessert? Most of my good ones are suited to holidays, when no one cares about calorie count and I can pour my favorite spices (ginger, cinnamon, cloves) into pretty much anything.
Sadly, it’s April in Southern California. For those of you who don’t live here, we have two seasons in Orange County – summer, and cloudy. Most of the year is summer. And while I would love to be in my tiny kitchen with the oven cranked up all day, the current climate seems to prohibit full-on heavy baking. Furthermore, many of my friends are soon-to-be-married (or soon-to-be-bridesmaided), and would not appreciate me posting a fudgy chocolate cake recipe guaranteed to destroy their next fitting. As I, too, am attempting to get ready for the summer fashions, I decided to attempt what, for me, qualifies as a healthy dessert.
I’ve made this recipe before for potlucks, and it's been quite popular. This time, I made a few switches to skim calories and coax a bit more flavor out of something butterless. It turned out pretty well, though the crust was chewier than I’d hoped (as this happens every time I use the pan, I remain unconcerned). It’s a solid dessert for those who don’t like it too sweet – the texture is extremely dense and moist (add another ½ teaspoon baking powder if you’d like), but the lemon flavor and sugary goodness are very subtle (might add more zest or juice next time). I’m only sorry that I cannot appropriately convey the smell of the lemon cake and lavender glaze in my kitchen. In my imagination, this is exactly what Provence smells like…
CHANGES I MADE: Ina soaks this cake in lemon simple syrup. When I did this, it didn’t add much to the cake, and made it finger-unfriendly. Therefore, I omitted the sugar bath and kept her second glaze, which I flavored with my favorite floral, lavender (see home-made extract below). I replaced some of the sugar with honey to shore up any sweetness lost with the syrup - if you like it sweet, you may want to up the honey even more. I switched out half of the oil for apple sauce, for all you healthy people. Finally, I went with non-fat Greek yogurt instead of whole plain yogurt, both because I tend to keep large supplies of the former on hand, and because I think that the Greek version has an added tanginess.
So here is my first recipe to share with all of you. More creations and interpretations are coming soon, but right now, I have a cup of tea and a slice of cake with my name on it. Happy spring!
Lemon Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa
Ingredients
For the cake:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons) or more (I used 3 lemons)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup applesauce
For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1-2 teaspoons lavender extract (vodka + lavender flowers, left to sit for a few weeks then strained)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, honey, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla.
Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Whisk together, in a small bowl, the applesauce and the oil. With a rubber spatula, fold the oil mixture into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Check on it every fifteen minutes. If the top looks too brown, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes (it will collapse slightly, or at least mine did), then turn onto a baking rack. Cool.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, lavender extract, and lemon juice and pour over the warm (but not hot) cake.
