• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Spoonful of Plants logo

Plant-Based Cooking

  • Recipes
    • Juices & Smoothies
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Main Course
    • Sandwiches
    • Pasta, Noodles & Grains
    • Sides
    • Salads
    • Soups & Stews
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
  • About
  • Nutrition
  • Food Photography
    • First Bite Photography
    • View Gallery
    • About
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
    • Juices & Smoothies
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Main Course
    • Sandwiches
    • Pasta, Noodles & Grains
    • Sides
    • Salads
    • Soups & Stews
    • Snacks
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
  • About
  • Nutrition
  • Food Photography
    • First Bite Photography
    • View Gallery
    • About
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home > Breakfast & Brunch

    By Spoonful of Plants 2 Comments

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe Print Recipe

    I'm so excited to share this Lemon Yogurt Cake recipe with you this week! I don't do a lot of baking but this recipe turned out so good, it seems to have ignited a little spark inside me. The flavors of this cake are pure and simple with clean notes of lemon, vanilla and almond shining through. The addition of Greek yogurt gives the cake an airy and light texture. Just a little powdered sugar is all you need on top. I think it's the perfect springtime treat to enjoy with tea or coffee, at breakfast, as a snack or for dessert.

    The Inspiration

    Tulips, forsythia bushes and daffodils are popping up all over my neighborhood. So, yellow hues and bright spring flavors like citrus and lemon have been on my mind. Because of that, citrus olive-oil cakes are always my favorite to bake this time of year.   The idea of adding yogurt into the cake popped into my head as I was searching through recipes. I thought it would be an interesting way to keep the cake moist without using too much oil or butter. Turns out, the yogurt worked beautifully. I couldn't have been more happy with the results. Also, replacing about half of the all-purpose flour for a healthier almond flour gave the cake great texture and mild nutty finish.

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Ingredients You'll Need For Lemon Yogurt Cake

    • Regular All-Purpose Flour + Blanched Almond Flour- I loved using a combination of the two because it gave the cake great texture and a mild nutty almond flavor that went really well with the lemon.
    • Non -Fat Plain Greek Yogurt- It kept the cake moist while allowing it to have good body and texture.
    • Lemon Juice & Zest- The lemon really shines through in this cake and is the star ingredient in my opinion.
    • Baking Powder & Soda- For leavening and to give the cake just the right amount of rise.
    • Vanilla- I can't bake without it. It's my favorite scent/flavor of all the spices!
    • Salt- enhances the almond and lemon flavors in the cake and help to balance out the sweetness.
    • Cane Sugar + Powdered Sugar- I used one cup of regular cane sugar for this recipe which gave the cake the perfect amount of sweetness. Only a dusting of powdered sugar was needed for the top but you can omit this if you want.
    • Eggs- helped to bind the cake. I found many recipes for this type of cake use egg whites to help create lift, but since I added yogurt, I didn't need the extra whites.
    • Butter- Half a stick of butter was all that was needed for this recipe.

    (side note* I plan to test this recipe in the near future using non-dairy yogurt and butter and I will let you know the results in the notes section when I do).

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    If you give this recipe a try I'd love to hear from you! Remember to leave a "star" rating and comment below! Thank you!

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Lemon Yogurt Cake

    Spoonful of Plants
    5 from 1 vote
    Pinterest Twitter Facebook Email
    Total Time 50 mins
    Course Baking/Dessert
    Servings 10

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 ¼ cups regular all-purpose flour sifted + more for pan
    • 1 cup blanched almond flour sifted *see notes below
    • 1 tsp baking powder
    • ½ tsp baking soda
    • ¼ tsp salt
    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 1 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
    • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
    • 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
    • 3 eggs
    • 4 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature, plus more for pan

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat oven to 325° F.
    • Butter a 9 inch cake pan. Cut and fit parchment paper to the bottom of the pan and then butter. Dust with all purpose flour and tap out any excess.
    • In a small bowl combine yogurt, vanilla, zest and juice.
    • In a seaparate larger bowl whisk to combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
    • With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy. Then, begin to add eggs in one at a time, mixing well in between each one. Next, beat in the yogurt mixture. Reduce speed to low, then carefully beat in the flour mixture until just combined. Transfer to cake pan and level out the mixture.
    • Bake for 40-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to to rack to cool completely.
    • Once the cake has cooled, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

    Notes

    *Notes about almond flour:
    It's important to use blanched almond flour for this recipe. It is lighter and fluffier and better suited for cake recipes such as this one.
    Sifting almond flour takes a little bit more time since it is not as fine. I give it a little help by pressing it with my fingers or a spoon. You can break up any lumps this way to help it through.
    *Make this cake gluten-free by substituting gluten-free all purpose flour for the regular flour.
    This recipe was slightly adapted from Martha Stewarts Lemon Cake recipe.
    Keyword cake, dessert, lemon, spring, yogurt
    Tried this recipe?Mention @spoonfulofplants or tag #spoonfulofplants!
    « Easy Artichoke & White Bean Crostini
    Moroccan Spiced Roasted Carrots »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Abigail Kinney says

      April 05, 2022 at 12:18 am

      5 stars
      Made this to celebrate my husbands 34th Birthday with friends and family and it was a hit! We are gluten free so that was an incredibly easy swap to make. I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 flour. The cake was the perfect mixture of moist yet fluffy. I don't like cakes mostly because of the icing so this was perfect for our gathering and even the kids kept asking for more.

      Reply
      • Spoonful of Plants says

        April 05, 2022 at 6:20 am

        Abby, Happy birthday to your husband! I am so glad that you loved the cake. And thank you for taking the time to explain your substitution to make it gluten-free. This will be very helpful to some readers! So awesome that the kids loved it too! Thats the ultimate test haha!! Best, Donna

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Donna-Castellano-Vegetarian-Food-Blogger

    Welcome, I’m Donna!

    Creator of Spoonful of Plants

    Thanks for visiting! I love to share delicious and easy to prepare meals where plant-based ingredients are the star of the show!

    Read More

    First Bite Photography

    Photography & Styling

    Let's work together!  I offer food styling and photography services for local restaurants, food brands and magazines!

    Read More

    Foodelia Food Photography Award
    Thrive Magazine Logo

    Featured in Thrive Magazine

    Subscribe

    Sign-up to receive the latest recipes, menus, bonus nutrition tips and more!
    Loading

    Search

    Categories

    Archives

    Connect With Me

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Footer

    this MUST be here to force the footer to display.
    DO NOT REMOVE!!
    it is hidden via Simple CSS

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    Spoonful of Plants: Plant-based cooking
    • Recipes
    • About
    • Nutrition
    • Food Photography
    • Contact

    DISCLAIMER
    The information on this blog is for general nutrition education purposes and is not intended to treat specific individual medical and nutritional needs.

    TERMS, CONDITIONS & PRIVACY

    Copyright © 2023 by Spoonful of Plants. All rights reserved.