Excerpted from “A LIGHTER WAY TO BAKE
So I did battle with this cake. I tried it with pretty much everything as a substitute for butter. Low-fat cream cheese produced a very weird mouthfeel. Lots of yogurt and oil produced the kind of cake one finds in the back of a village health food store (grainy and breadlike). So I took my old lemon drizzle cake recipe from Fast, Fresh and Easy Food and made it with the least amount of butter and sugar possible. I got there. In the end. A lovely, lemony yogurt cake, full of fabulous flavor and topped off with a tasty, zesty glaze.
Equipment 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pan; large bowl or freestanding electric mixer set with the beater
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons low-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
- Finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons (if waxed, wash in hot, soapy water and dry to get rid of the wax before using)
- 4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Lightly grease and line an 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pan with baking parchment. I make sure that the paper overlaps a little bit, which makes it much easier to remove the loaf from the pan once it is cooked.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl (or in an electric mixer set with the beater) until well combined. Beat in the eggs, egg white and Greek yogurt. The mixture will start to look, well, a bit curdled, but keep on beating it for a moment or two and then add the flour, baking powder, vanilla extract or seeds and lemon zest. Stir everything together until it is all combined and spoon it into the loaf pan.
- Pop into the oven to bake for 20–25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the pan for a few minutes. Use the baking parchment to pull the cake out of the pan, peel the paper off and leave the cake on a wire rack until completely cool.
- Meanwhile, to make the glaze, put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Stir in the lemon juice to give a smooth, runny mixture and set aside until ready to use.
- Once the cake is cool, place it on a serving plate. Slowly spoon the glaze all over the top and allow it to just pour over the edges beautifully. Cut into 12 slices and serve!
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