One Bowl Lemon Yoghurt Cake

One Bowl Lemon Yoghurt Cake! This classic cake is soft, moist and absolutely scrumptious. Created in one bowl using 9-ingredients, it’s one of the easiest cakes you can bake. Featuring plain greek yoghurt which creates an incredible moist texture. Lightly flavoured with freshly squeezed lemon juice + zest and a dusting of icing sugar to serve.  

Yoghurt cake is a simple cake recipe with a natural tang from the yoghurt. It’s similar to a butter cake however the texture is quite different. The yoghurt offers immense moisture and fat which makes the crumb not only delicate but very moist. The addition of lemon zest and juice introduces another layer of mild flavour and zing. It doesn’t have an icing or frosting, it instead uses a dusting of icing sugar. Enjoy your lemon yoghurt cake with a cup of tea or coffee with loved ones. 

Why You Need This Easy Lemon Yoghurt Cake Recipe

If you’re in need of something sweet to make to serve to dinner guests, this yoghurt cake is a crowd pleaser. It’s also perfect to make for you and your families weekly snack that they can take to school and to work. Cut a slice, wrap it in plastic wrap or a put it in a small Tupperware container and pop it into lunchboxes. It stores and travels well. 

You can also get creative with this cake in terms of the icing/frosting. Dust it with icing sugar or a spread of apricot or orange jam. For dessert, warming it up and serve it with dolloped cream, ice-cream or custard, so scrumptious! 

Key Ingredients

You will need these 8-ingredients to bake this delicious lemon yoghurt cake: 

Plain all purpose flour as the foundation to your cake. 

Raw granulated sugar to add sweetness and keep the cake moist. I use raw granulated sugar however you can use white granulated sugar too. 

Baking powder to make your cake rise! 

Lemon zest + juice as the main flavour to this cake. The addition of zest adds an extra punch of lemon. 

Eggs to add structure and help the cake rise. Be sure to use large eggs which weigh approx. 55g-60g each in shell.

Extra virgin olive oil to add extra moisture and richness. It doesn’t add much flavour though. 

Greek style yoghurt as the main flavour and component to this cake. Incredible moisture, texture and flavour thanks to the yoghurt. 

Vanilla extract to add a touch of flavour and enhance the other flavourful ingredients. 

How to Make Lemon Yoghurt Cake Or Watch It Here

This is created in one bowl, the best right? First preheat your oven to 180ºC (356ºF). Then line a round 9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, set aside. Alternatively, if you have a non-stick pan, liberally grease your pan with melted butter and then dust it with a light layer of flour. I like to use a tea ball/sieve for this step. This method will leave your finished cake with smooth sides, only works if you have a good quality non-stick pan though, we don’t want your beautiful cake to stick when trying to remove it after baking! 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Your flour, sugar, baking powder and the lemon zest. Now give it a good whisk! 

Add in your wet ingredients. Your lemon juice, eggs, oil, yoghurt and vanilla. Grab your spatula and gently fold it altogether. The batter will be quite thick, thanks to the amount of yoghurt you’re using. Don’t over-mix your batter either, it’s already thick but overdoing the mixing will contribute to a tougher textured cake once it’s finished baking. 

Pour your batter into your prepared baking pan. Smoothing out the top. Transfer to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean and it’s lightly golden on top. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then carefully flip it out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once cooled, you can dust over a light layer of icing sugar using a fine mesh sieve, if desired! Instead of the icing sugar, you might like to brush your cake with an orange or apricot jam too.  

Store cake in an airtight container, refrigerated, for 3-4 days. 

Watch How To Make This Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Recipe Tips & Substitutions

• You can use the chilled ingredients (the yoghurt and eggs) still cold in this cake. I usually say to first bring your refrigerated ingredients to room temperature however, it’s ok either way in this cake. 
• I love to use extra virgin olive oil for this cake, highly recommend over any other vegetable oil. 
• Be sure to not over-mix your cake after you have added the liquid ingredients. Keep folding and mixing until no more flour is visible. Just mix until everything is incorporated. Because over-mixing your cake will develop the gluten too much and that can result in a tough dense crumb/texture once it’s baked. 

Enjoy! Sam x 

Looking for more classic delicious cake recipes?

Here are some favourites:

Classic Banana Cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Vegan Vanilla Coconut Cake

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes

If you make this recipe please be sure to let me know how you go in the comments below and tag me on Instagram with your delicious photos & video! I love to see what you guys are making from the blog and enjoying with your loved ones.

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