Chocolate Yogurt Cake + A Baking Secret

Ever since we started this blog I’ve been dying to try using yogurt in my baking. Yesterday, it was pouring rain in London (not unusual for this summer!) but there is something so comforting about baking when its miserable outside, especially when it is something as decadent as chocolate cake!

 

I had never baked with yogurt before and didn’t really know what to expect but after making probably the moistest and most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted this will not be the last time!

This cake has such a velvety, ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ texture, with a very subtle but lovely tartness from the yogurt. I dare you to try and have just one piece!

 

Ingredients:

Cake:

6 tbsp. butter (at room temperature **see baking secret below**)

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 ¾ cups white flour

2/3 cups cocoa

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

6 ounce container of rich vanilla yogurt

1/3 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

2 tbsp .plain yogurt

1-2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

 

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Meanwhile, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

 

Add Eggs one at a time and beat until combined.

Add half of flour and cocoa mixture to butter, sugar and eggs. Add yogurt, water and vanilla.

 

Finally, mix in remaining flour and cocoa mixture.

 

Pour batter into a baking dish a bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 20 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar, cocoa, yogurt, milk and vanilla. This should be quite thin as the mixture is meant to be a glaze.

 

Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

 

BAKING SECRET!

Have you ever had one of those moments when you want to bake something but you forgot to take butter out of the fridge to make it room temperature? Well, I was watching a cooking program the other day and discovered the simplest way to solve this!

3 Steps:

1.     Place butter between two pieces of parchment paper

2.     Using a rolling pin (or weapon of choice) smash butter until flat

3.     Open paper and refold butter, repeating step 2 until butter is soft