Simple and delicious, all you need to measure out the ingredients for this cake are a tablespoon and a cup of yogurt. This cake can be baked in one standard 9 inch baking pan, or two standard 8 ½ x 4 inch loaf pans. Just because I think small food is more fun, I’ve been baking mine using three mini 4 inch cake pans and decreasing the bake time to 35 minutes. The vanilla buttercream is totally optional!
Ingredients
For the cake:
1 yogurt cup
1 yogurt cup olive oil
2 yogurt cups sugar
3 yogurt cups semolina flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tablespoon baking powder
Zest of 1 orange
Pinch kosher salt
For the simple syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1 orange
1 tsp warm spices such as whole cloves, cardamom, or star anise
For the vanilla buttercream:
2 sticks or 1 cup room temperature butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the yogurt, olive oil, eggs, sugar, and orange blossom water in a mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
Fold in the semolina flour, kosher salt, baking powder, and the zest of one orange using rubber spatula. Stir until combined, but do not overmix.
Grease your baking pans using butter or cooking spray. If you aren’t using a springform pan, I suggest covering the bottom and sides with oven-safe parchment paper as well. Bake the cakes for about an hour, or until a cake tester or knife comes out clean from the center of the cake. Check after 45 minutes.
As the cakes bake, get started on your simple syrup.
Place the sugar, water, and juice of one orange in a small pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Let cool.
For the buttercream, place the butter and confectioner’s sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, mix on low speed until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and then increase the speed to medium-high. Mix for 4 minutes until the texture is light and fluffy. The frosting will become lighter in color.
Mix in the vanilla, salt, and cream on medium speed and set aside.
When the cakes are ready, remove them from the oven and brush them with a generous amount of simple syrup, about a quarter cup per cake. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans and placing them on a wire baking rack.
Once the cakes are cooled completely, decorate with frosting, citrus slices, flowers, or herbs of choice.
