YOGURT, OLIVE OIL AND CHOCOLATE CAKE

I’ve been wanting to bake all week but motivation is low and all I want is something that will only take couple of minutes to put together. If even the slightest effort is involved then, sign me off, I am not into it. This cake is a doozy, you need one pot of yogurt as the base measure, a bowl and whisk. So easy! 

It’s a good chocolate cake if not a great one. It’s sometimes the trade off you accept if you cut down on certain steps. Yogurt, oil and chocolate powder make for a different batter than my usual butter, chocolate and eggs. It is less rich than my other go to gluten free chocolate cake and it will benefit from a cup of tea, a bit of cream or some very good hot chocolate. It had a solid structure and will support glazing and decorations just fine. All in all, this is an efficient cake for every day. You won’t impress anyone with it, but kids will love to make it and there is something for simple good food. Not everything has to be the best it can be all the time. Is that a weird concept? 

Anyway, back to the chocolate cake. I use a heart shaped mold, which I adore. I bought mine in Ikea years ago and it’s still going strong. Something like this, this or this would work equally well, although the last ones are probably a bit small and you would use 2 molds for my recipes. Those three links are affiliate links. 

If you know any french person, you will have heard of yogurt cake. It is our most basic cake and the very recipe we use to teach children how to bake, or at least to get them interested in baking. The batter is essentially what Americans call yellow cake. I make a very good spiced coffee yogurt cake if you need a bit more warmth. The use of olive oil, is not unusual in baking but is not a common ingredient in Ireland, so like with everything else, use the best olive oil you have, as it will affect the taste of the cake. The olive oil comes through and you might as well go for the good stuff. 

I use chocolate extract, coffee extract and also a good glug of rhum. All of these are expendable, they just bring a bit more flavour and I have them handy, but don’t feel you have to go and buy them just to make this cake. It benefits from their addition but doesn’t need them either. 

Ingredients 

• One pot of plain full fat yogurt (125 g)
• One pot of self raising flour
• One pot of your best extra virgin olive oil
• One pot and a half of sugar
• One pot of unsweetened dark chocolate powder (Green & Blacks have a good one).
• Three medium eggs
• Any extra you may want to add (think as per above a few drops of extracts or some alcohol)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 C
• In a bowl, empty your pot of yogurt, rinse it and dry it so you can use it for the other ingredients. I recommend using it for the dry ingredients first and then the wet ones so you don’t have to wash it between each use. Once everything is in the bowl, just mix it until the batter is nice and smooth. 
• Pour the mixture in a greased mold and place it in the oven for 30 to 40 min. Keep an eye on it from 30 min onwards and do the knife test. This is the kind of cake that needs to be somewhat cooked through so you want the knife to come out nearly clean.