YOGURT CAKE (one-bowl)
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more details.
Who doesn’t love a simple and delicious yogurt cake that’s so easy to prepare and involves hardly any cleaning up? All you have to do is mix a few ingredients, all in one bowl, and bake.
The result? A moist and mouth-watering cake loaded with yogurt and with hints of lemon and fruit jam.
This cake is a must, not only is it good, low sugar, and packed with nutrients, but it’s also inexpensive and easy to make. And you know exactly what’s inside the batter!
Friends, this is a foolproof recipe to keep in your back pocket and perfect for any occasion. I baked it thousands of times and it always turns out lovely.
Watch how to make it
What ingredients you need
- Yogurt
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour or spelt flour
- Baking powder
- Unrefined cane or regular sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Lemon zest
- Pinch of salt
- Vanilla essence
- Apricot or orange jam (optional)
HOW TO MAKE A YOGURT CAKE
- Mix eggs and sugar in one bowl
- Stir in vegetable oil, yogurt, lemon zest, and vanilla essence
- Whisk flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and add to the bowl
- Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients until just combined
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes.
- Brush with warm apricot or orange jam.
- Enjoy!
WHY CLEVER?
It’s one of the simplest healthy cake you can bake for the whole family, in no time and inexpensive: less than $ 4 (8 servings)!
Added bonus?
It’s low sugar. I usually choose unrefined cane sugar, less processed than white sugar, but you can use any sugar you have on hand. However, the healthiest tip is reducing the amount of added sugar, whatever it is.
When it comes to cakes, expeller-pressed canola oil (or cold-pressed olive oil) is my choice. This oil is naturally produced by mechanically squeezing (pressing) the canola seeds and it doesn’t go through an insane amount of processing with chemical solvents.
RECIPE TIPS & FREQUENT ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT KIND OF YOGURT CAN I USE?
Plain, low-fat, or flavored yogurt with a “pourable” consistency works well in this recipe. However, I find the real Greek yogurt is too thick and gives a denser texture.
CAN I USE GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR INSTEAD OR REGULAR FLOUR?
Yes, I tested the recipe using only rice flour and it turned out well. See notes on the recipe card.
Eggs: possibly use eggs at room temperature and make sure the yogurt is not too cold. The ingredients should be more or less at the same temperature, this is a way to avoid a curdling batter. But if that happens, don’t worry too much and bake it anyway.
Do not overmix the batter because working flour too much can produce gluten, which creates a dense and rubbery cake.
Flavor
I love the zesty lemons, they are always in my fridge alongside my yogurt, hence if I run out of creativity or ingredients, lemon yogurt cake is what I happily end up with. But this yogurt cake is actually a blank canvas for many other delicious ingredients. You can add to this recipe dark chocolate chips, spices, orange zest or whatever you like most.
Glaze
It’s totally optional, but it’s so simple to make and I love it.
I put some apricot or orange jam into a small saucepan. I heat gently over low heat until the jam has melted, and if it looks too thick I adjust the consistency with a tiny bit of warm water. When the glaze is the consistency of runny honey, I brush the yogurt cake straight away. Easy peasy.
Leftovers
It keeps well for up 3-4 days at room temperature, in an airtight container. But do not refrigerate: refrigeration dries this cake out! It’s also freezable: wrap the cake, or slices of cake, in plastic wrap (clingfilm), store in an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.
MORE EASY HEALTHY CAKES?
If you make this delicious and easy yogurt cake, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram. I would love to hear from you!
EASY YOGURT CAKE
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250gr) plain yogurt
- 2 leveled cups (250gr) all-purpose flour or light spelt flour (I mixed both)
- 1/2 cup (100gr) white or unrefined cane sugar
- 1/2 scant cup (approx 80gr) vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 Tsp Vanilla essence
- 1-2 Lemon, zest*
- 1 pinch salt
JAM GLAZE
- 3 Tbsp apricot or orange jam
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F°/180C° and place the rack in the middle position.
- Grease a 9x5x2.5 inch loaf pan with butter, cooking spray, or simply line the pan with parchment paper (in this case there's no need to grease the pan).
- Mix eggs and sugar, then add oil, lemon zest, vanilla essence and mix again. Add yogurt (not very cold) and mix it into a smooth consistency. All in one bowl.
- Whisk flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt together and add to the wet batter until just combined.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- You can serve it plain or brushed with some quick and easy jam glaze which adds a lovely shine and flavor.I glazed this cake brushing some warm orange jam on top (see notes)*.
Video
Notes
- Flour: you can use white whole wheat, spelt, rice flour or all-purpose flour. Personally, I prefer mixing light spelt flour and all-purpose flour.
- Gluten-free flour: I tested the recipe using rice flour and it turned out well. I stirred the four into the batter and mixed well until smooth, then I baked it 5 minutes longer. It had a good rise and lovely flavor. However, it might be a bit less moist than its regular version, but perfectly enjoyable and not dry.
- Lemon flavor: add the zest of 2 large lemons if you prefer to boost the lemon flavor.
- Fruit glaze: put 3 tablespoons of apricot or orange jam into a small saucepan. Heat gently over low heat until the jam has melted and If it looks too thick adjust the consistency with a tiny bit of warm water. When the glaze is the consistency of runny honey, brush the yogurt cake straight away.
- Baking the cake in a round pan rather than a loaf pan reduces the baking time (approx 30-35 minutes).
- Keeps well for 4 days at room temperature, in an airtight container.
- Do not refrigerate (refrigeration dries this cake out!)
- Freezable.
Absolutely love this recipe!!! New favorite that I have shared with my friends. I made a few modifications to make mine gluten free and low carb: I substituted Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 gluten free flour, Carbmaster Vanilla yogurt, and monk fruit for sugar and omitted the glaze. I adjusted the temp to 400 degrees and increased the cooking time to 45 minutes because gluten free cooks a little different. Still absolutely delicious and calculated at around 5 carbs per serving. Just made another variation of the original today adding 1/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries and the zest of one orange absolutely delicious and healthy!
Thanks for your lovely comment, I’m so glad your gf and low carb version turned out so good, and I love the idea of using fresh cranberries! 😊
Would like to make mini loafs. Could I do this ?New to baking.
Hi Joyce! Yes, but if the loaf sizes are smaller, you have to adjust the baking time accordingly. How “mini” are they?
Just a quick tip: always preheat the oven, when it’s hot place the loaf pans on the middle rack. After 10 minutes peer through the oven glass window (do not open the door) and start monitoring the rising, you want to see the mini loaves rising and getting colored and puffed in the center. When you think they’re ready, to do the skewer test as mentioned in the recipe 😉 Hope it helps x
I found this recipe because I had a tub of yogurt to use up. Very disappointed. It tasted like white bread. Very bland, not lemon clover at all. Tried drizzling powder. Sugar/ lemon juice mixture over the top. Didn’t help much.
Hi Kathy, sorry to hear about your disappointment. The lemon flavor is quite delicate, it’s more a yogurt cake than a lemon cake. However, I’ll be adding a note to the recipe regarding the lemon flavor, that might be helpful x
Just made this. Was out of lemons so i used grapefruit zest. Love the recipe. It turned put well. It makes a light fluffy cake/loaf.
Thanks for your comment, Clara! 😊
Hi, I like your recipe, I wanna try it
Can I use 100 g of plain unsweetened yogurt with 100 g strawberry tart yogurt (sweetened) with half a cup of sugar? Or do I need more/less sugar since I’m not planning to make this cake for diet
I would like to know how much.sugar can I add to that it’s sweet as normal.
Yes, you can, Emma. Basically, you can mix unsweetened and sweetened yogurt (total 250 grams) and then follow the recipe, you don’t need to adjust the quantity of sugar x
Are the calories per cake or serving? Can’t wait to make this cake
The calories are per serving 😊 The calculator split the total into 8 servings. I’ll be adding a note to the recipe x
Would it be okay to use lemon yogurt instead of plain yogurt? Or would it be too much flavor? I love lemon so I’m hoping it should be okay. 🙂
That’s absolutely fine 😊
I have had this recipe saved for a while and finally got round to making it this morning, I had read all other comments first and thought the one about adding some chocolate chips to the batter at the end a good idea, so I did just that, I did lower the temp of the oven just slightly as it’s a fan oven and checked after 30 mins, the outside edges looked like they were starting to burn but after the skewer test the very middle of the cake was still a bit wet, so I turned the oven down again just a little and put it back for another 5 mins, perfect, I didn’t have any glaze to use so make a quick lemon drizzle for over the top, I was so excited to try it that it was still a little warm but OMG it’s so divine, the combo of the hint of lemon with the choc chips was soooo delicious I just had to have a 2nd piece straight away, not sure if there is going to be any left for the hubby when he gets home at the weekend, so I may just have to make another fairly quick.
I’m so pleased you liked it, Lesley 😊 , and thanks for sharing your helpful feedback! I love adding chocolate chips to the batter, it only gets better 😉 xx
I really like the outcome of my cake. It was the best and first of all my barking trails I will confidently say was successful. I think at first I add too much oil so I had to add more flour because I saw the batter view and mine was not a lumpy. Mine batter turnout thick, smooth and a little dry (because of the extra flour) but fluid. I added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. I put my time for 40 minutes but by 20-30 minutes it was baked. I did reheat my oven for quite a while. I did not put sugar in mine but I used maple syrup and honey instead. I also used lemon juice instead of lemon zest. I also used pre-milled and sieved superior sponge flour. Overall, I was very shock to see the soft consistency of the middle and how thick the cake was. My batter was very fluid, I thought the cake would not bake well in the middle but the cake turned out well. My family did say I should of added sugar though!!!
Thanks for your lovely comment! I see you’ve made a few changes, but I’m glad to hear the cake turned out well and your first baking attempt was successful 😊
I thought this was good, not too sweet & moist. However I was disappointed by the appearance of the loaf. It was low & pale coloured. I baked it twice, both times following the recipe exactly using room temperature ingredients. I checked my baking powder expiry date, which still was very fresh. It could have had a stronger lemon flavour, but saw from other comments that more grated lemon peel could be used. Wondering what I am doing wrong & if others have the same problem?
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that, and to be honest this is the first time I’ve received feedback like this. Although it’s a simple recipe, the truth is that many things can go wrong when it comes to baking.
You’ve said the loaf was low and pale, and that makes me think there was something wrong with the oven temperature.
When you place your cake in the oven, you need to make sure the oven has reached the right temperature.
Plus, it’s crucial not to open the oven door during the baking time, not even for a few seconds. If you do it, the temperature drops and the cake doesn’t rise properly.
Sadly, if you open the door a few times – or if your oven doesn’t work well for some reason – the result is a flat and pale cake.
I hope this helps, and let me know if you have other questions x
Thanks for your reply Katia! I have a brand new Maytag oven, which lets me know when it reaches temperature. Not had problems with my other recipes. Oven door is never opened during baking either. I am going to try it again perhaps using different yogurt as I used 0%.🤔 It was a nice recipe, but did not remotely resemble your picture😕 Thanks again!
I was trying to figure out what went wrong 🤔 not that easy.. The fat-free yogurt might have affected the batter, you’re right, but I’ve heard from other readers that it worked just fine for them. Btw, I hope it won’t let you down again and thanks for your comments 😘
Hi!
I made this today using strawberry flavoured yogurt and glazed it with Korean Citrus Honey. Lovely!! Thank you for the recipe.
You’re so welcome! Thanks for your positive feedback x
I just made this lemon loaf and it is so delicious!
I added raspberries to the mix which worked really well. I also added a lemon drizzle to the top after it was baked (lemon juice and sugar mixed).
Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you liked it, Joss! The addition of raspberries and the lemon drizzle sound utterly delicious, thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
I really want to try this as a gluten free recipe. Have you made it this way yet?
Not yet, but I think rice flour should work fine in the recipe. Btw, I’m going to try it next week 🙂
Hi, looking forward to trying this recipe! Do you think I could use half a cup of oat flour and half a cup whole wheat flour instead? Thanks!
Hi! I’ve never used oat flour, however, the recipe calls for 2 cups of flour. If you add a second cup all-purpose flour it should be fine, but I’m not sure about using only whole wheat and gluten-free flour xx
Thanks for your prompt response! Will let you know how it goes when I try it!
It is by far the BEST cake ever, it competes even the ones full with sugar. It was the 3rd time i did this cake in 2 weeks and you need just one bowl. Nothing else. In literally 45 minutes you have a PERFECT cake. “Health to your hands” as we say in Greece.
You’ve made my day, Iliana! 🙂 I’m so glad you love it, thanks so much for your lovely comment x
I recently discovered your recipe, and I love it, I already made it twice. This kids love it too. I’m thinking of adding some dark chocolate or fresh fruit to it, just to try a variation. Thanks so much for sharing this easy healthy cake recipe. 🙂
I’m so glad you all love it and thank you for your comment, Bianca! An example of yogurt cake + berries is my strawberry bread, another delicious variation 😉
I’ll let you know if it works ?
Brilliant! Thank you 🙂
Brilliant worked really well with the 0 fat yoghurt. Light and moist with a lovely lemony tang.
Followed the recipe pretty much as stated, although I used rapeseed oil as canola oil is not easy to get in the uk. Definitely a keeper!
I’m so pleased it worked well, Rebecca! Many thanks for your lovely feedback 🙂
Sorry for repeating myself – it looked as if my comment hadn’t been received. I’ll be trying out some of your other recipes.
No problem at all 🙂
Hi Katia,
The zero fat yoghurt worked really well, made the cake pretty much as in your recipe except I subbed rapeseed oil for the canola. Thank you for such an easy cake with such a lovely fresh flavour. I will definitely be making it again.
Would love to try this. Can you use zero fat yoghurt?
I’ve never used zero fat yogurt in the recipe, but I think it should be fine x