Greek yogourt cake with lemon

Learn to make this perfect Greek yogourt cake bursting with lemon flavour! The texture and flavour of this snacking cake cannot be beat. Serve it with a simple dusting of icing sugar. This is a perfect cake to serve with afternoon tea, as a sweet breakfast, or dessert after a meal.

If you are looking for a basic, delightful, slightly tangy snacking cake, this is it. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, and nothing else required.

Why I love this recipe

First off, I have to say that I love that so many of you love this recipe! There has been so much positive feedback about it over on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Thanks for trying the recipe guys!

I personally love this cake because it is simple. You don’t need icing, you don’t need any special techniques or fancy ingredients. This is just a great lemon cake.

I also love that this cake is made with oil instead of butter. One of the most frustrating things about baking a cake with butter is dealing with the butter itself! Making sure that it is at room temperature, or melting it…sometimes that is just too much effort! In this cake though, all I have to do is pour the oil. Done!

Key ingredients

This cake can be made with pretty basic ingredients that you likely already have in your kitchen. Take a look at what you will need:

Flour I almost always use basic all-purpose (sometimes referred to as plain or regular) flour in my baking. This cake is no exception! All purpose flour is easy to find, less expensive than other varieties (usually) and really versatile.

Lemon I always use fresh lemons, and buy organic whenever I can, especially when I will be using both the zest and the juice, the way I do in this recipe.

Yogourt I use plain (unflavoured) Greek yogourt in this cake recipe. I like to use at least 2% milk fat yogourt. Greek yogourt is great because it is thick, and works well to create a lovely texture in this cake.

Sugar The cake is sweetened with granulated white sugar added to the batter.

Eggs I use large eggs in this cake. It is apparently always best to use room temperature eggs when baking (but honestly, I often use them straight from the fridge, and it is fine).

Vegetable oil The fat in this cake comes from vegetable oil. It is light, almost flavourless and gives a great crumb.

Vanilla Like my parents, I usually use vanilla powder in my baking. You can use vanilla extract if you prefer though.

Baking powder This is the leavening agent used in this cake recipe. Basic, easy to find, and very effective.

Salt Always add a bit of salt to your baked goods – it really helps to bring out the flavours.

Icing sugar I like to decorate this cake with a light dusting of icing sugar. This is optional, but it is easy enough and looks pretty, so why not!

How to make it

Even non-bakers will find this recipe easy to follow and with amazing results!

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease your 10-12 inch bundt pan with vegetable oil.

Step 2
In a medium size bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set it aside.

Step 3
In another medium size bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Step 4
In your electric stand mixer (you can also use a hand held mixer) beat the eggs with the sugar for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add in the oil, followed by the vanilla (extract or powder).

Step 5
With your mixer speed on low, carefully add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl containing the eggs and then add the yoghurt mixture. Be careful not to over mix.

Step 6
Pour the batter into your prepared bundt pan, and bake in the middle rack of your oven for 60-65 minutes. Test with a toothpick; if it comes out clean then your cake is ready. If you notice your cake is browning too much on top while baking, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Remember, this is a dense but moist cake and will take a full hour to bake.

Step 7
Remove your cake from the oven, and allow the cake to cool in the bundt pan for approximately 10-12 minutes before removing it.  Set it to cool on a baking rack.

Step 8
Let cool on a wire rack. Once your cake is completely cooled, dust it with icing sugar. Enjoy!

Recipe substitutions

If you prefer to use olive oil you can use that instead of vegetable oil in the cake batter.

This cake can be made with vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder.

You can use orange zest and orange juice in lieu of the lemon. You can also use lime!

Storing

This cake will keep really well for several days at room temperature. It can also be wrapped well and frozen for up to 6 months. Simply thaw at room temperature to serve and dust with icing sugar at that time if desired.

Baking tips

If you prefer a less dense, but equally delicious cake, you can reduce the amount of all-purpose flour to 2 1/2 cups or 375 grams.

All ingredients should be at room temperature before you start preparing your batter.  Eggs and yogourt should sit outside of the refrigerator for approximately 1 hour before starting to bake.  This ensures a smooth batter, and will create a fluffier cake.

It’s always nerve-wracking exciting to allow a bundt cake to cool and to then flip the pan over and see a thing of beauty emerge. That is, if the cake comes out in one piece. No matter how delicious your cake has the potential to be, if you don’t grease your pan thoroughly and carefully, you could wind up with a bit of a disaster. Don’t believe us? You should, we speak from experience.

The year was 1994. It was winter, and like most Montreal winter days back then, there was plenty of snow, and the air was crisp and frigid. It was Saturday evening and I was getting ready to go out with friends for a night that would start on Crescent Street and likely end up on St. Laurent. Unknown to me, Helen had decided that for her, that Saturday evening would be one of domesticity. Having recently delivered her own little bun, a gorgeous, joyful little girl, Helen now had a bundt cake in the oven.

At approximately 9:30 pm, my doorbell rang. Odd. I was meeting my friends downtown and not expecting company. I opened the door curiously, and came face to face with my dear, terror-stricken brother-in-law, holding my adorably oblivious niece. The conversation went something like this:

Billie: What are you doing here? I’m going out.

Brother-in-law: Can we come in?

Billie: I’m going out…and where’s Helen?

Brother-in-law: She baked a cake.

Billie: Oh….(suddenly having visions of previous baking fails at the hands of her dear sister) ….Oh….

Brother-in-law: So, can we come in?

Billie: But what actually happened?

Brother-in-law: I’m not sure. She baked a cake. Then I heard a lot of banging. And I’m not sure, but I think she threw the pan across the kitchen. She didn’t hit anyone, so that was good.

Billie: Ah. Did she use a bundt pan?

Brother-in-law: A what?

Billie: You know, a bundt pan. The circular pan with a hole in the middle.

Brother-in-law: I think so. I saw it in the garbage can, along with the cake.

Billie: Umm… yeah. So, why are you here exactly?

Brother-in-law: I figured she needed some alone time. And, I also may have asked her what she did wrong.

The moral of this story? Don’t be like Helen in the 90’s (And most definitely, don’t be like her husband). There is a reliable way to remove a cake from a bundt pan in one piece, and Helen now knows that you need to do the following:

• Grease your pan carefully and thoroughly. I know that many recipes recommend butter, or oil and a light dusting of flour. I tend to use cooking spray, or vegetable oil applied with a paper towel all over the surface, and never dust with flour. For me, this works beautifully all the time.

• Allow your cake to cool, but not too much. Usually, a 10 minute cooling period is just right.

• I like to place a cooling rack over the top of the cake pan and then flip over. I then shake the pan gently back and forth to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan, and then slowly lift the pan off of the cake.

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VIDEO: Make Greek yogourt cake with lemon

Recipe variations

If you love the idea of this cake, then I think you will also like to make my Lemon ricotta cake or my Olive oil cake with lemon. Another great lemon cake that I think you would enjoy is my Raspberry lemon jelly roll cake – a perfect summer dessert!

Related recipes

Do you want to see more bundt cake recipes? We’ve got these:

Orange and cranberry olive oil cake One of my favourite cakes of all time! I love the sweet and tart combination, and the crumb of this cake is absolutely incredible!

Double chocolate zucchini cake You will not believe how much zucchini is in this cake! You can’t taste it, but the cake is so moist!

Marble cake A Greek classic! This was a popular cake during my childhood, and my parents would make in on birthdays and other special occasions. It is so good!

Lemon and blueberry olive oil cake A citrusy and berry filled cake that will delight everyone with how pretty it is, and how delicious it is!

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Helpful baking supplies

Although not absolutely essential, I really find that these items make baking this easy cake, even easier! This is basic stuff guys, and supplies you can use with many recipe!

Hand held mixer

Bundt cake pan

Vanilla powder

Wire cooling racks

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