Seeing as I can’t get enough of those I Don’t Need A Special Occasion To Make Cake Cakes and also those Of Course You Can Stop By At The Last Minute (psst, ’cause I’d already made some cake) Cakes, I am clearly long overdue to make a classic French yogurt cake. I first learned about yogurt cakes nearly five years ago from Clotilde; they’re perfect anytime-of-day cakes (bless the French for understanding the utmost importance of this), not too sweet, fluffy and perfect just from the oven or wrapped in plastic for a day or two, as the corners soften. Most people don’t measure them — the math is based on the volume of your yogurt cups (they use two), to which you add an equal amount of sugar, a double amount of flour, a little less than one of oil, two eggs and some leavener and flavors.
Those flavors are usually gentle things, like a bit of lemon zest, or vanilla, a splash of rum or maybe a handful of berries. But I — having all but given up on waiting for the market to produce the things I really want to eat, at least for this weekend — spied a bag of golfball-sized grass-colored limes at Whole Foods this week and did not blink an eye before tossing them onto Jacob’s stroller (I dread when he gets big enough to fill it out, and he can no longer be reasonably expected to schlep groceries home for me) and since I’d already gone down that path, decided not to even pretend that I wanted to resist the 2 for $5 blackberries, admired the pretty pretty grass color against the dark magenta-violet berries and knew at once I’d have to put them together.
Thus, a lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce came and went in our kitchen this weekend. I honestly think I believed it would turn out purple and green, like a Mardi Gras headpiece or my favorite color combination in 9th grade (ouch). It is for the best that it didn’t, however, as the pale cake just pops when the fresh blackberry sauce cascades over it. You’ll have more than you’ll need and I encourage you to stir in any unused plain yogurt for an easy breakfast. That ends in cake. As all should.
One year ago: Pickled Grapes with Cinnamon and Black Pepper
Two years ago: Peanut Sesame Noodles
Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce
Adapted generously from Clotilde’s yogurt cake a handful of yogurt cake recipes
This is another one of those recipes where I’ve changed, uh, just about everything. What it shares in common with the original is yogurt and the basic proportions. To this I’ve added lime zest and juice and a blackberry sauce that shares a hint of the lime. I also rejiggered the instructions to make this a one bowl cake — you know, the most welcome kind.
Don’t etch this recipe in stone — this could make an equally tasty lemon cake with blueberry, raspberry or strawberry sauce or even a gentle orange yogurt cake, simply dusted with powdered sugar. The sauce is optional, but when you find that you have extra (you will, unless you halve it) it makes as welcome a sauce over ice cream as it does stirred into your leftover plain yogurt.
Cake
1 cup whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt (this is the ideal; however, I had success with 2% Greek yogurt)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (olive oil works as well, for a slightly different flavor profile)
1 cup sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Sauce
12 ounces fresh blackberries (frozen should work as well, but you should start with half the water)
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan with oil (I used a butter and flour spray out of habit, which works as well) and line the bottom with parchment paper if the pan is not springform.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. If you’re using the springform pan, unclasp the sides. Otherwise, flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Make sauce: Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. Purée until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.
Do ahead: This cake keeps very well for up to three days (or so I hear, but have not practiced), wrapped in plastic at room temperature. The sauce can be made up three days in advance, as well. It can also be frozen for future uses.
Yummy!! This looks so good and I am need of an amazing dessert for a party today and the blackberries at the market looked so good yesterday…I think I know what to make…Deb you never disappoint! Thanks!!
I’ll stop off at the grocery this afternoon, on the way home from hearing great jazz, and surprise my family with this wonderful cake! Thanks.
Yoghurt cakes are the best! I spot Greek yoghurt there on the background and as a proud Greek girl I’m gonna say… it’s the best! Isn’t it? It makes cakes extra fluffy.
Magda
yum! looks like the perfect fresh, summery everyday cake. I can’t wait to try and make a gluten-free version!
I am a sucker for everything lime. This is calling my name!
My neighbor works at an organic delivery-grocery store and just brought me 8 limes. I was searching recipes to find out what to make with them, and you just posted this! Perfect! Thanks, Deb!
WOW…. love the very idea. Have to make this soon!
Yummy! I’ve been staring at a yogurt lemon loaf recipe all week but I have limes in my fridge and a bowl of defrosting blackberry and peaches (I was clearing out the freezer yesterday) so I think this will be in my future….Thanks for another great recipe. Jacob looks so full of fun and mischief – he will be a handful when he starts motoring on his own! And so cute that you’ll forgive him for most of his mischief (speaking from experience with my 4 yr old monkey!)
I agree with Magda, yogurt cakes ARE the best!
You defintely don’t need a special occasion to make cake, it’s good just to have it there for those moments when you need it (which let’s face it is pretty often ;-)). I love the freshness of this recipe, the colours of your photos and the fact that it’s a yoghurt cake which I first discovered through you. Can’t wait to try this for myself.
Love simple cakes, too — sometimes you just want to throw something together with sweet, easy flavors and relax!
I have been searching around for a simple but delicious house warming cake/treat recipe, and this is going to fit the bill perfectly! Thank you so much for posting such a casually gorgeous recipe!
Mmm yes. Everyday cakes are the best kind. Not too sweet, not too artery-clogging. That means I can eat more and feel only half as guilty!
I found blackberries for $1.00/lb this week, needless to say I scooped up all three pounds they had left and made a small batch of blackberry jam. I cannot wait for the fruits to start flowing in this summer. The cake looks great, would you oppose swapping sour cream for the yogurt? I’d like to make it now but have no plain yogurt in the house.
Giovani — I bet sour cream would be a great swap.
Who needs a special occasion for making a cake? Definitely not me. Thank you, Deb, for that lovely recipe.
I’ve had one of these cakes a looong time ago and never bothered to look it up. Thanks for sharing :)
What a beautiful Sunday morning recipe. Thank you!
That’s the yogurt cake recipe I use, it’s so easy :) This looks delicious, especially with the blackberry sauce :)
This looks so light and summery. I think I will be stopping by today. :)
Ah ha. I once made a yoghurt cake in France with my French Exchange partner, but she used a sachet of some leavening something or other that I never managed to translate and find here, so this is great – now I can make yoghurt cake again! Thank you.
In general the French sell sachets of vanilla sugar or baking powder so I imagine it was the baking powder
I just made something really similar with Meyer lemons and in cookie form instead of cake. (they were still really cakey of course) Now I’m dying to try with limes instead. I love yogurt cakes!
Look great Deb, do you think it could be made using a sugar substitute like Stevia? I am looking for some deserts that will make the dieting set happy :)
i’m such a sucker for lime zest, it really brings out the other flavors!
I’m so glad that we have the same philosophy on cakes/desserts for breakfast.
This sounds amazing – love the flavor combo!!
How yogurty is the taste? I am not a fan of eating yogurt, but I have used it successfully in recipes before, where there is enough flavoring to cover. Does this taste a lot of yogurt, or does it just end up carrying the texture? Or maybe I’ll use the previous commenters idea and swap out sour cream.
Total serendipidity – I already had all of these ingredients and just returned to the store minutes ago with a pint of blackberries that I too couldn’t resist! This will make a wonderful gift to my office as I start my new job tomorrow.
I just tried to make a yogurt cake the other day it was umm… not so good to say the least. This looks like everything my cake wanted to be when it grows up. And I fully support eating cake for breakfast since I am currently eating leftover apple crisp a la mode for breakfast.
Mmm, lemon and blueberry. Color me and my new blueberry bushes there….
Wow that looks delicious! I’ll have to make that someday!
mmm, I love blackberries!
Mmm! I actually just put your lemon-yogurt-anything-crazydelicious cake in the oven – a loaf each with blueberries and strawberries. But I may have to go back and use up that last bit of yoghurt now!
love this recipe…bet this will be a gorgeous cake..have to try!!!!
Hmm. I remember trying greek yogurt out on a different recipe for lemon yogurt cake, and the cake turned out to be unpleasantly dense. This looks promising!
I’ve made her yogurt cake a few times – so easy and delicious. Love the flavor combo here – looks nice and summery.
Sounds really, really wonderful.
I’ve gotten more into this type of cake since your convincing post about how appropriate they are to serve as a dinner party dessert. It’s true! They give that bite of something sweet that we like after dinner without stealing the limelight from a showcase meal. These are perfect “visiting cakes” as my MIL used to say, as well. I may just serve this with the flambed brandied strawberries I tried the other day. Thanks for this, Deb.
The return of the coulis! Love those sauces with fresh, not cooked berries.
This is the 13th bookmark I’ve made and I have just begun going through your recipe collection. Oh college, please be over soon so I can go home and try out this recipe!!
Your timing is so perfect that I’m wondering if you’re psychic – I am making my own yogurt and as I experiment with different methods sometimes I end up with way way more yogurt than a person can eat in a week. Now I’m going to use this for Thursday’s dinner party dessert.
One of the “best things I ever ate” was a blackberry sauce over vanilla ice-cream. The backberries were from a friends backyard and I thought he just crushed them then mixed with sugar and a few drops of Meyer lemon juice. I’m sure he cooked (or maybe just heated it to melt the sugar?). I’ve have to ask. All I know is I want to be your next door neighbor so I can come lick the plates. And check to be sure Jacob’s locks are real. I’ve never seen a cuter baby or one with such a beautiful head of hair. I bet the two of you get “oh’s” and “ahhhs” all the time.
Wow lady. You slay me. I can’t keep up with you. I want to try everything but there’s not enough time:) I will make time for this cake though!
If I were to use some yogurt I have that is maple syrup sweetened, could I omit the cup of sugar. I can’t do sugar…but this cake looks amazing!
Oh I love yogurt cakes! I broke down and bought the 2.99/pound rhubarb at Whole Foods yesterday. Perhaps rhubarb compote on a yogurt cake is in order!
This sounds and looks just wonderful. I love the idea of the lime & blackberry flavor profile :)
This looks amazing. I can just taste the flavours by looking at the pictures. Going to definitely give it a try.
This cake like Jacob in his jumper will make us shake,rattle and roll.
BTW can he say Shake Shack yet?
Wow – I love your site!
Great pics & interesting material!!
Keep it up..
This looks amazing!! I want to eat it right now…too bad I don’t have the yogurt and lime on hand!
oh my goodness, that looks delicious! definitely be trying that one soon
I love this blog.
This is a very handy recipe, as I’ve been producing homemade yogurt like crazy. When I have a few leftovers before I start the next batch, I’ll know what to do with them!
this looks like a little piece of heaven. Two of my fave things- blackberries and limes. Need to try this immediately.
aaaaaah, where was this recipe when I needed it last week when I had limes coming out of my ears? I had to make caipirinhas instead… :)
I’m not a big fan of lime, could I easily just trade the lime for lemon?
And yet another recipe I simply have to try out. I love your recipes – all of them – but sadly I lack time to make every single one. This one WILL be made in the near future (as soon as I’ve found time to go shopping for yogurt) and I’m looking forward to feeding my fellow students again.
Do you think, it would also be an effective cake to make a boy fall for one? ^^
These pictures make me simply happy with the already dived into slice and the empty, save crumbs and smears, plate and fork. I love that this cake uses oil rather than butter – which does officially put it into the “all day category” in my brain. I’m excited about this – thanks.
damn, and i thought i was going to make a sorbet for dessert tonight. why did i come to website, why, sorebt plans foiled. french yogurt cake on the menu.
Just made it! Came out perfectly, it was dead easy, tasted and looked delicious. Thanks for making my sunday afternoon smitten kitchen!
Haha, I fell for the sale blackerries and a bag of limes at WF this week too! How funny. I love the idea of this sauce stirred into yogurt. Yum! And this cake looks wonderful. I wonder if a yogurt cake might be good with walnut oil? Maybe vanilla instead of lime in that case… if I go for it I’ll let you know!
What about using unsalted butter instead of oil? Or using coconut oil? Hmmm.
I want it too!!! must me yummylicious!!! Great job :)
Love the idea of the flavors in this cake. Very yummy.
Considering how your lemon-yogurt-anything cake and your grapefruit yogurt cake and your raspberry buttermilk cake are three of my all-time favorites, this one will definitely have a turn, too! I’ve never baked with limes, and I’m looking forward to it.. bring on the zing. (If I remember right, you’ve got a lime-zesty cookie on the the site, as well…)
oh my god– heaven.
Hey Deb, I made the raspberry buttermilk cake with yogurt instead of buttermilk, and it was great. Try it if you haven’t already!
Beautiful photo’s of your lovely cake! I, too, love the versatility of yoghurt cake!
I don’t know what is better, the photos or the cake… both look just delicious
Thank you for reworking the recipe to make it a one bowl cake. Lately I’ve been baking more than ever, which means I’ve been spending more time than ever doing dishes. Maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to have a dishwasher, but until them recipes that use fewer dishes are very welcome!
I love the simplicity of this recipe. I happen to have a cup of Greek yogurt (2%) and a Meyer lemon in the fridge. I think I know what I’ll be making . . . :)
I have never made a yogurt cake before but I really want try it out. Do you or anyone else know if the recipe will work with 1 percent yogurt?
I made this tonight, and it was a hit~! Although my older boy (6yrs) took one look at the sauce and cake while baking and decided he didn’t want any…he had to pieces….he’s learning that sometimes things [i bake] don’t look as good as they taste!!
just made a double batch of this blackberry sauce and froze half for next weekend when i have time to make the cake. going to use the other half this week on top of yogurt and maybe stirred into some club soda for a blackberry agua fresca type of thing! yum!
i too just indulged in the 2 for $5 special at whole foods (but in louisville)… and was looking for something to do with blackberries i did not use to top the awesome pancakes i made this morning using the tips you so wisely imparted in pancakes 101. this cake looks lovely and delicious. and thanks… i consistently find your site both entertaining and incredibly useful. zei guzundt.
I made this tonight. The flavor is mild and the cake is moist and dense. It is more of a muffin texture than anything – a bit chewy. It looks exactly like the picture and we’re eating it plain so maybe it improves with the sauce- a bit underwhelming on its own. Though we plan to freeze and eat for breakfast.
Made this with lemon and raspberry sauce tonight. First time I’ve ever made an “everyday” cake (and used my springform pan). I get the feeling I’m entering dangerous territory…
YUM!!!!! This looks awesome!!
I just finished serving this to friends who came over for coffee and dessert. We all loved it! It was moist and full of lime flavor! I had to make my sauce from frozen raspberries, but it was still utterly fantastic. I’m such a fan.
Brilliant, I’ll be making this one when the last cake I baked runs out!!
I love baking, not only due to your fantastic ideas for cakes Deb, but also because a slice of cake has less calories, preservatives and fake colours, flavours etc than chocolate bars.
Brilliant brilliant brilliant all ’round!
Impossible to get limes in Korea, but I’ll try with lemons for now :)
I didn’t think I could love you more, Deb.
Another beautiful, simple recipe. I like how you dressed up this cake with the blackberry and lime sauce.
this looks just fantastic, and i’m imagining one with a blueberry sauce…. mmmmm
got to go back to the grocery to get a lime but that looks like it will be well worth it. was that you and your little one on PW’s blog photo? great shots of all.
deb – saw it, went out to pick up some blackberries & made it for dessert! so tasty – thank you for always churning out new, yummy posts so often. keep em comin’ : )
Mmmm. We are inundated with oranges here. I’m thinking orange yogurt cake with oranges and fresh strawberry coulis. I love the one bowl adaptation. Your son is adorable! Pulkes…my daughters had the cutest pulkes. They’ve lost theirs, but mine seem to be getting bigger. Perhaps too much cake.
i didn’t see those blackberries at whole foods this afternoon… i was too busy loading up on cheap champagne mangoes.
that cake looks soooo good. i read about yogurt cake in cooking on rue tatin and have always wanted to try it.
looks good, reminds me of dokra in inidian cookery
mmm this is mouth-watering!
Oh look at the blackberry coulis! So dark and thick. I love cake with a bit of citrus. Thanks for sharing!
This looks great! If it wasn’t 95 degrees today in Cairo, I might consider making it. However, we’re due to cool down on Wednesday, so I am putting this on my calendar. Alas, no blackberries here, but we have already gotten the most delicious, custard-y local peaches. Do you think peaches would be a good substitute for the blackberries or should we go with strawberries?
I’ve made Clotilde’s yoghurt cake many times, I also did a lemon and a coconut version once (used flavoured yoghurt and toned down the sugar). It’s my 90 year old aunt’s favourite (as it’s so moist) and won over my yoghurt-hating dad as well.
Deb – I just love it when you bake such cakes! I don’t get blackberries here but am thinking of making the same sauce with Mulberries today.
yum, we are on the same wavelength, yesterday i baked the raspberry buttermilk cake with lemon, blueberries and vanilla yogurt v. butte milk for probably the 25th time, love it!
Deb,
I love how you always use real, high quality ingredients. Beautiful food!
This reminds me of a yoghurt cake I used to make often from one of those children’s recipe books (and that I still find use for as an adult). That recipe uses unsweeted fruit yoghurt to make a wonderfully moist and lightly fruited cake. Thanks for sending me back down memory lane!
deb,please i need to know why did u reduce the amount of flour if u were adding more liquid (lime juice) to the original recipe (it had 2c flour). it will help when I am trying out new recipes and want to substitute or add new ingredients.. thanks a mill
Lilac — Actually, I just now realized that I cobbled this recipe not so much from Clotilde’s but from many different versions I have around. Don’t worry, the flour level works!
I work in a particle physics laboratory where we rotate making cakes on Friday, so I am always looking for excellent cake recipes! This might have to replace Ina Garten’s lemon yogurt cake as my go to recipe….(at least for a while….)
This is a beautiful cake and I am sure the lime juice and zest makes it especially good! I really am enjoying using citrus in many dishes myself right now. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
This look like it comes together in no time! I have been looking for a nice butter free cake for a while, and I love yoghurt cakes.
What would happen if one used fat-free Greek yogourt?
I adore citrusy dessert with dark berries! My favorite it lemon curd ice cream with blackberry sauce, but lemon cake runs a close second. This cake really does look lovely…light a moist…YUM!
This looks great for my student advisory tomorrow. They’ll love it. Thank you!
:) I’m in love with spring/summer cakes right now. I imagine it dressed in a pretty pastel dress with a flower in her hair. :)
Ooh, great combination with the blackberry and lime! I absolutely love Clotilde’s yogurt cake, have made it twice in the last month, and will be making it again this weekend since my boyfriend has requested it for his birthday. This time I’m going to try making a 3-citrus cake, with lemon, lime, and orange. And thanks to your post, maybe a berry sauce too!
Delicious! I need no excuse to do this recipe. Have a great day.
Providence, I tell ya, providence. I cleaned the fridge this morning and happened to find exactly one cup of my homemade yogurt. I am now straining it as I type so it will be nice and thick. I also happen to have some blackberries in the freezer that are crying to be used. AND!!! wait for it—two limes in the same said fridge that is getting cleaned out. I do believe I shall make this cake.. By the way, I also made another new york cheesecake on Friday and it turned out wonderfully. No burnt crust. Thank you very much!
I absolutely love greek yogurt. Once I can bring myself to make another pound cake, I’ll definitely be trying this one!
I made it with no lime, and used pine nut oil (just what I had) for an interesting flavor. Great, easy cake!
Yogurt and lime…I can already taste it in my mouth
Grapefruit also works well in these yogurt cakes! Now I’m thinking a grapefruit and lime combo would be interesting.
Looks beautiful! Do you prefer this version over the Barefoot Contessa version you made a couple of years ago? I adore Ina’s version and have made ridiculous variations on that one — including fat free yogurt and so on — and this one looks a little less moist than that one. True or not?
Simply gorgeous. While the lime and blackberry looks heavenly, I bet this would make a great cake with so many different variations. Thanks for sharing and, as always, for your truly beauteous photos!
Oh, and I agree with you on the 9th grade loving color combo…
I made this last night with lemon juice rather than lime…I had a momentary lapse and forgot the eggs and it was still DELICIOUS!!
I like to use YoBaby yogurt for this kind of cake.
We use the yogurt cup measuring system in Austria too! But oddly enough, not the yogurt. We just save old cups. They’re called “Becherkuchen”- “cup-cakes”.
I just made this last night. It was delicious. The flour level was right on–the cake was light and moist. I can’t imagine using more flour.
All I want to do is eat this cake! But I defend my undergrad thesis this weekend so I have to wait until NEXT week to make this. Noooooo!
The French yogurt cake is my favorite recipe, because I am cake impaired, and still can do it….
never paired it with anything but a sprinkle of powdered sugar – I will give the berries a try next time…
hi deb,
i’m sure this has been asked of you a thousand times, but here’s 1,001. why haven’t you written and published a cookbook yet? i’d buy it in a heartbeat. i’ve now made a number of your recipes, all except one w/fantastic results–chana masala, hazelnut thumbprint cookies, clementine cake, poppy lemon cake, yogurt berry cake (this one was kind of a disaster, not sure why–too wet in the middle and though i kept baking it past the suggested time, it never cooked all the way through!), and the sesame peanut noodles. the above cake is tempting too, though now i’m a little weary of baking with yogurt. anyway, this is all to say, i love your recipes, and please compile the very best ones in a beautifully illustrated book for all to buy!
do you think this would work out as cupcakes/muffins? do you have any general rule-of-thumb for oven time/temperature variation when making a cake to cupcake conversion?
I would love to make this cake today, but I don’t own a cake pan. I have a loaf pan, and also glass baking dishes.
Would these work?
How would I adjust the cooking time?
I love fruit sales. I just bought too many strawberries because they were only $1.69. Now I have to figure out what to make with them. Maybe a yogurt cake with a strawberry sauce…
This look delicious! I have enjoyed baking with yogurt in the past, and this looks like such an unusual flavor combo that I will have to try it! One question– I’ve been using applesauce lately as a substitute for vegetable oil when called for, in everything from pancakes to brownies, and it’s worked out really well–usually you can’t taste the apple at all. Do you think this could work here too? Have I just been having excellent luck, or have you heard of this substitution before? It seems healthier but still tasty, so I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t seen it more often.
Jackie — I have heard of it. I’ve also seen someone ask about this in the comments of another yogurt cake recipe and the author’s advice was that it should work fine, however, it’s probably best for a yogurt cake that you’ll be serving on day one. It is more likely to dry out sooner otherwise.
Ariel — I am nearly positive that this would also work in a loaf pan. I’d oil it well and line the bottom with parchment. “Nearly positive” because I haven’t tested this recipe in that kind of pan but I’ve made other yogurt cakes with similar proportions that fit in one.
Jill — I think this could work as muffins. It’s not an exact science to change a recipe to muffins however, in general, you want to fill your muffin tins to between 2/3 and 3/4 full and most muffins bake for between 15 and 20ish minutes, so it’s best to start checking a minute or two before then. And of course, we always like to hear how things went. I am sure others would like to make the same pan size change.
Deb, I just strained my homemade yogurt this morning. Now it’s as delectable as fage or siggi’s. You have wonderful timing :)
Lovely recipe (as usual). Your recipes are a refreshing change from the box mix, frosted, overly-sweet cakes we have become accustomed to from our childhood. Being a scratch cook/baker, I no longer use cake mixes, realizing when I made the transition that they had a slight off-taste. Berries are becoming less expensive with our warmer weather so I am going to have to give this a try. Loved seeing Jacob’s smiling adorable face again.
Oh, I can’t wait to try this. Blackberries are only $1 a pint at my grocery store this week. I was trying to figure out what to do with them, and now I know!
I’m wondering why you decreased the flour amount from 2 c. to 1 2/3 c. (from Clotilde’s recipe). Omitting the 1 T and using 1/4 c. lime juice, won’t that make a smaller cake? or overly moist (is that possible?). Anyhow, I’m going to make this one. I love the sauce idea. I have made yogurt cake in the past (a recipe from another source but similar to Clotilde’s) and served it with fresh berries. Let’s just say there were no leftovers to wrap up to test shelf-life! Yum! I love your blog!
Deb, I just realized my question was already asked and answered above. Thanks!
Oh. My. I’m sure this cake tastes amazing with that blackberry sauce… Yummy! I’m craving something like that right now!
Wow, what a lovely combination of flavors. Yum.
Yum. Just…yum. I saw this while I was at work and knew a detour for limes and blackberries was in my future. This came together so quickly, and the batter is just delicious. Can’t wait for it to come out of the oven!
I just made this cake as I had just enough yogurt and limes in the house. It is light and moist, and even a non-baker like myself couldn’t screw it up. I thinned out some raspberry preserve I had in the fridge with hot water to make the sauce. This would be a lovely brunch offering.
beauty on a plate, love it! cheers from london,
Yummy/ This looks great
I love the word “rejiggered”.
This was exactly what I was looking for! I made mine in a bundt pan, baked at 350 for 35 minutes, subbed in vanilla with a hint of cinnamon, and used 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 yogurt (didn’t have limes or enough yogurt in the fridge) and it turned out perfectly! I made one yesterday, and it’s already gone. Will have to make another one tonight. Thank you for pulling this one together and sharing it! I’m putting this in my “permanent file” collection.
just made it and it came out delicious!. didnt bother strained the sauce for seeds, i liked them in there. it was yumm! thank you! look forward to more recipes.
I just finished making this – lemon with blueberry sauce (didn’t want to go to the store again today). The sauce is so simple and just delish – and I’ve already snitched a little scrap of the cake and it is divine! Dinner seems so far away right now, I can hardly wait to have a proper piece!
I made this cake today after reviewing the recipe this morning. I was amazed by how easy this is to make and no mixer was such a plus! I used lemons, frozen wild blueberries and extra light olive oil as that is what I had on hand. I also used 2% Greek yogurt. It turned out great. This is only the second from scratch cake recipe I’ve ever made and it turned out perfect. Thanks for sharing this. I visit your site regularly and just love it. Keep up the wonderful work! BTW the granola bars were also very good.
If making a cake for no reason is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
My motto: IF it’s French , I’ll eat it!
V
Made the cake tonight and it looked SO YUMMY, but guess I overfilled my 9-in cake pan, and the batter overflowed all over my oven. Word to the wise: this will probably make two (thinner) layers if you’re making it in a 9-in tin! I’ll be trying again tomorrow…
I’ve been meaning to try making a yoghurt cake for, oh, years. Lime and blackberry sounds astounding but I’m also kind of liking the idea of using olive oil and then either lemon or orange and finishing with a scattering of icing sugar or a few caramelised pistachios or walnuts. Hmm, might have to do a little experimenting.
sounds fab and super easy – can’t wait to try it
This is the perfect thing to bring to a little coffee and play date this morning. Thanks once again Deb! :) I’m sure the kiddos and pregnant lady will be much appreciative.
There is something about a yellow cake and that gorgeous dark purple/blue fruit topping! WOW WOULD I LIKE A SLICE RIGHT ABOUT N-O-W!
Favorite fruit is the blueberry. This cake just has me DYING to satisfy my blueberry craving. So good. Great recipe – super post.
I made this last night with lemon and raspberry instead of lime an blackberry. Delicious! Even my roommate — self-proclaimed disliker of cakes and loather of all citrus flavored deserts — went back for seconds!
I’m allergic to blackberries (at least, I had a massive allergic reaction to blackberry syrup when I was 10 and have been too chicken to try my luck since then). Is it possible to make the syrup with raspberries instead?
I made this last night after dinner. I didn’t have a round cake pan available so i used a square browning pan. It turned out beautifully. The most grueling part was straining the sauce. I had a very fine mesh, and perhaps I should have used more water, but separating sauce and seeds took the entire time the cake was baking.
If you click on my name, it will take you to the image I uploaded at flickr.
Thanks for this recipe!
This recipe looks wonderful and I realize this may be a silly question, but if I did want to add a little vanilla or rum to the recipe, would that be to the cake portion or the topping/fruit porition?
This looks great! So serendipitous because I just made a batch of blackberry-lime jam this weekend. It’s such a great combo that is often overlooked. Might have to send you some.
Wow, so many comments. This might already have been talked about. Sorry, if it is redundant.
1st off Deb you are incredible! THANK YOU so much for all your goodness!
My cake is in the oven, MOST of it is still in the 9″ cake pan…..however……..lots of it overflowed! I think that a spring foam with tall sides would be the only way to go with all that baking soda!! Can’t wait to try.
I have three lemons calling to me for homemade lemon curd (and possibly more, because I am a lemon addict), and this would be perfect with a bit of lemon zest in it and a dollop of lemon curd and whipped cream on top.
Yum!
Oreth – I don’t have a strainer at all. I have a mesh colander that might have worked, but I think the mesh isn’t fine enough. So I skipped the straining all together and left the seeds in. (I used raspberries, not blackberries.) Of course, it makes a very different texture than it would have had otherwise, but I found it to be very pleasant with the cake.
I made this last night with juice from an orange and lowfat vanilla yogurt my toddler has decided she doesn’t want anymore. Came out beautifully. I didn’t make the sauce, just dusted with powdered sugar. So moist, delicious!
This looks so delicious and I am already a huge fan of yogurt cakes. I have my own go-to recipe for a raspberry lemon yogurt cake, and I am almost afraid to post the recipe on my blog for fear my friends will know how easy it is to make the cake that has wowed them at countless gatherings and parties. :) Your flavor combo sounds like an interesting twist, and perfect for spring!
can we pretend that the yogurt part makes it healthy?
I’ve been reading this site for a couple of years now and this is honestly the first time that I’ve shut off the computer and gone and made something right away! Since I had lemons and strawberries hanging around the house, I made that variation instead. The cake was nice and moist, with a good crumb, and I loved the strawberry sauce. However, I would’ve liked more of a lemony zing to it, so I think I’d add more lemon zest next time. Absolutely delicious, thank you!
I wonder sometimes, if you read our comments and recipe variations and regret suggesting brazen creativity. Anyway, my version was olive oil, homemade yogurt, blood orange, and loaf shaped. Fantastic-thanks for the constant inspiration.
Sarah — Not at all! I love the creativity. In fact, I was in a meeting today where someone said they couldn’t believe all of the crazy things that people did to recipes and I said that I thought it was awesome. There’s no need to etch recipes in stone when there’s a riff that would be better suited to your taste, right?
Liz: I have a weird thing about textures, especially ones containing seeds. I don’t generally eat strawberries or raspberries due to this. As such, I was overly OCD about straining them.. and I’m glad I did it.
Wow this sounds delicious, I bet the flavours are so strong and vibrant yummm!
Yogurt cakes have been a revelation for me because I am seriously lactose intolerant and all the butter and milk in sweets can upset my tummy. I loooooved your chocolate yogurt cakes recipe and will definitely try this one soon!! Thank you!!
Just finished this one, and it turned out beautiful. I usually love lime, but I am wondering if I mis-measured something as the taste of lime overpowered the blackberry flavor in mine. This was very easy to make otherwise.
OMG. I just put this into the oven and tasted the batter. The batter tastes amazing. I modified this to make it gluten free and what I had on hand:
Used nonfat yogurt + 1/4cp keif b/c that’s all I had.
Used the real lemon juice (had no fresh lemons). Added an extra splash to make up for the zest.
Added vanilla.
In place of flour, I used: 1/2 cp gluten free corn flour + 2/3cp brown rice flour + 1/4 cp tapioca starch and 1/4cp potato starch.
Added 1tsp xanthum gum.
Added 1 tsp chia seeds just because.
Can’t wait to see how it tastes!
I used a 9″ cake pan with 2″ high sides and had no overflow. But I can see that a shorter pan might not have held the batter. Mine has lemon yogurt plus a little sour cream to bring it up to eight ounces, lemon zest and juice. It just finished its ten minute cooling, so don’t know how it tastes yet. I think we’ll be having cake for breakfast!
Dear Deb,
Thank you for this recipe and so many others! In the words of my spouse, “This Smitten person, she’s good at what she does!” And this truism was uttered in between mouthfuls of this lemon-yougurt cake with blueberry sauce.
My spouse, myself, and our tummies thank you!
So I did this sinful thing you suggested. This cake. This yogurt thing. I was skeptical but thought, OK. Blackberries were even on sale. But did I buy them? NOOOOOO! I was lured by the sinfully expensive blueberries the way some women are lured by a gorgeous pair of shoes. OK, maybe not that bad. I substituted lemons for limes and OH MY GOODNESS!!! I LOVE this cake. This is the perfect tart-sweet heavenly any time kind of cake that made my husband look sideways at me wondering just how many pairs of aforementioned shoes I might have purchased. Cynic.
This cake sounds great and not very hard to make. I have been cooking for a very long time, but don’t make nearly as much, so ease of preparation is very important to me.
Will be trying this one soon – and maybe because of yogurt and blackberries it’s even good for you? :)
I have this in the oven now. Smells yummy. I did mine with lemon and strawberry sauce. My yogurt was a little bit expired, but passed the taste test, so we shall see how it turns out. Like a previous commenter said, THANKS for the inspiration. When I try out your baked goods I like to share so I don’t eat too much. I’m always getting comments, so it makes me feel special!!!
Made this and it’s wonderful! Punted on the sauce to use what was on hand: 16 oz frozen strawberries pureed with the sections of two clementines, the sugar and just a pinch of salt.
Taking some to lunch with a friend tomorrow, but only some, or my family won’t let me leave the house!
I made this Sunday night with orange instead of lime and dusted it with powdered sugar…so tasty. I was hoping for a bit more of a pronounced orange flavor, but maybe I’ll play with it a little.
I brought it with me to school on Monday and called it “Because it’s Monday” Cake. It was gone by the time I went home. My college friends are still amazed that I bake so much. I let them think it’s more difficult than it is. =D
It looks so yummy! Do you think it would work in a cupcake tray?
Did you use a standard “Persian” lime or Key Limes? I am passionate about Key Limes and in the fortunate position getting them really cheap. ($1 for two pounds? Heck yeah!)
I just made it today! Beeeeautiful! Tastes amazing!!
Beautiful photos! Looks so yummy!
I just made this and it turned out so good!! I ate 2 HUGE pieces and didn’t even feel guilty cause this was the healthiest cake I have ever eaten.I always made cakes with lots of heavy cream and chocolate for the frosting so the light blackberry sauce made me feel like I was having fruit instead of cake. I had no idea yogurt cakes could be so good and easy to make. Thank you!!
I love the idea of lime and yogurt together. Topping it with blackberry sauce seems a beautiful partnership. Can’t wait to try!
Oh my word. This just looks too sublime. I love the flavors and I love the texture of yoghurt cake. This is a must bake for me this weekend. Thank you!! xx
I made this & the cobb salad for dinner last night. Major Rave reviews all around. Top this cake with homemade vanilla ice cream and it is swoon inducing.
I made this with lemon instead of lime, and used some frozen raspberries (plus some lemon and sugar) for the sauce. Quick and easy and good!
I made this yesterday and it was sooo easy! (one bowl? love.) Used greek yogurt and lemon, with a strawberry topping since it was all I had. It was yum! Like a twist on strawberry shortcake. Had to seriously restrain myself from putting a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream on it. I baked mine ~35 minutes and it was slightly undercooked in the center but it was such a beautiful golden color I just took it out anyhow. Thanks for the recipes!
I made this easy little cake because of the blackberry sauce and it was delicious! I used lemon with it because my peculiar taste has determined that lemon enhances berries that are blue or purple, limes works for me with cherries, raspberries and strawberries and oranges works best with the yellow fruits, like pinapple and melons. Crazy, huh?
thanx for the reply Deb, adore u :)
I made it healthier by using lowfat yogurt, splenda, and applesauce instead of oil. Came out super moist and tasty. Used a lined cupcake tin and it came out fine. Easier on my diet for portion control that way! :D Also the only thing I did differently with the sauce was use splenda instead- delicious! Good on pancakes too instead of syrup ;)
I made this Monday, ignoring final exams and papers in favour of baking and potlucks. It was delightful, even after I used too-small pans and made a mess all over my partner’s roommate’s oven (eep!). The classmates I fed it too were all in a tizzy!
One question, if you have time/insight: I never usually sift my flour for lack of a sifter/patience, however upon rooting through an unfamiliar kitchen I found one and decided to use it to avoid using a 2nd bowl. When I reached the bottom of the dry ingredients, however, there were tiny yellow-ish granules that were left over. They really unnerved me, and I have no idea what they were… the borrowed flour was unbleached, but not whole wheat, so I don’t know if it could have something to do with that. Have you ever encountered this? Should I be worried?
Thanks so much for your blog; I absolutely adore it. A constant source of inspiration and stress relief!
Merci from Montreal!
I’m definitely going to try this with lemon and maybe some huckleberries since I live in Seattle. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
I always find myself inspired when reading your posts.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I threw it together for a birthday dinner party last night. I made a rhubarb ginger jam (inspired by a rhubarb jam topping a tart, the recipe for which I found in the current issue of ReadyMade); it was delicious. Though, I will have to remember to pick up some blackberries to make it again, the way that you did.
I love that this recipe has so many possibilities. Printing this out and dropping it in the Whatever, Whenever recipe file. Thanks!
I love blackberries, they remind me of my grandpa :)
This looks gorgeous, I may try it when my sister comes to visit next week.
Deb–quick question, though with the 187 comments someone might already have asked…Did you not cook the blackberry mixture at all to thicken it? I did because it sounded just like a blackberry coulis my mom makes and it turned out great. I was worried a non-cook version might be too thin and runny. Thoughts?
Sarah B — It is a coulis. I prefer berries raw; they have such a delicate flavor that gets lost when you cook them. I called it “sauce” because it hopefully makes it sound as approachable as it is. It’s not particularly thin, surprisingly; I think it’s because a lot of the fibers come with it when you press it through a fine mesh strainer. Only the seeds (which I loathe in blackberries) get left behind.
Thanks for the recipe…..I made it yesterday and it’s delicious. I wanted to cut the sugar a bit (I try to on most recipes), but was afraid changing the proportions would screw up the cake…actually it wasn’t too sweet…probably because of the yogurt.
I’m definitely making this one again…so simple!
this was wonderful. i changed the blackberries to raspberries and it was delicious. and a couple of spoonfuls of the raspberry sauce was so good in a glass of homemade limeade.
Delicious & a little exotic…never had a lime cake before. To Barbara S. who likes to reduce the sugar…I thought I’d try subbing King A. whole wheat flour and olive oil for a healthier version. Worked out great.
Lovely, though I was surprised that the lime flavor was so subtle. Definitely better wrapped up tight (once cool) and eaten the second day! Much more melty.
Deb, I am now making goats’ milk yogurt and this cake is puuurrrfect for it. I have a bag of limes in the fridge and am going to try to do a combination of currant sauce and blackberry jam to see if I can get enough drizzle to make it work. I love the dark and sensual quality of blackberry and/or black currant juice, reminds one of the best balsamic (earthy, intense, dark and a bit mysterious) vinegars with fruit. And with a creamy, fluffy lime cake? Sublime!
It was delicious! Moist with a dense texture. I used Strawberries for the sauce. LOVE that strainer idea! Took out sooo many seeds. Even the batter that oozed over the sides was fabulous! Thanks again. And so fast easy to make!
Sorry if this was already asked and I missed it – do you think extracts could be used in place of the citrus juice and zest? (I’m one of those citrus-dessert loathers.) I’m envisioning an almond yogurt cake with cherry coulis, or even just a moist “naked” coconut yogurt cake, but I’m not sure how to approach the substitutions.
I made a version of this cake with orange zest and juice and served with with rhubarb compote flavored with a little orange zest too, and whipped cream. it was incredibly good. Oh and i used half olive oil and half safflower. Delicious. Thank you!
Hi Deb,
Just finished making this cake for some friends and it looks good, but it’s only about an inch high. Should it have risen more if so, what did I do wrong? I used an 9inch spring pan and it didn’t rise very much…hmmmm. Thx.
Made this last night using fat-free greek yogurt and yes, completely and utterly delicious! AS ALWAYS!
My whole office loved this cake–you inspired me to schlep to the store and make this even after a 9-5 job and evening class. It was very much worth it. (Note: If you use strawberries for your sauce you really don’t need too much water.)
Thanks for the inspiration!
I’ve been fasting for 8 days now and I think I’ve looked at these pictures every day since the start of my fast. (Finally something to say on your site which definitely hasn’t been said already :P)
Oh this looks fabulous. My mom will be visiting in May and I’ll add this to our menu! (I’m thinking leftovers will be a great mother’s day breakfast with mimosas…. )
Just had to make a second lemon-with-raspberry-sauce version of this as the first got eaten within 24 hours!! Husband and kids very keen, and I can tell myself that it’s healthy due to the yogurt and lack of butter!!
i’ve been a fan of your site for quite a while now and tried many of the recipes. :)
i did this cake yesterday, using plain yogurt, the zest of two limes instead of one, added a little pack of vanilla sugar and used raspberries for the sauce. the batter had an amazingly fluffy texture and was light green because of all the lime zest (so lovely!) and as for the sauce it took quite a while to press it through the strainer but it was worth the time and effort! absolutely delicious! the only thing i didn’t like about the cake so much is that the crust as it is a bit too…well, crusty for my taste. but maybe that’s just because of my oven. still, will make another one tonight as a surprise for my friends!
There is something so fun about this cake! We made this last night with blueberries and lemon juice for the sauce, orange and lowfat yogurt in the cake, and finished it off with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Delicious! Sadly we are finishing the last slices as an afternoon snack on a rainy afternoon… Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this last night with lemons instead of limes and it was delicious! I plan to make this for my mom for Mother’s Day. She’ll love it.
Yum. Made it with lemon because limes aren’t available here right now, but stuck with the olive oil idea.
I haven’t tried yogurt cake this way before, and I wanted something really simple to make with a couple of co-workers who were coming home with me after work Friday, so we made this together. We all enjoyed it, and ate half of it in one sitting!
I actually combined this recipe with one from Food Network Canada’s web site, because I wanted to try the measure-with-yogurt-cups method. That recipe was almost exactly 1/2 of yours, except that it also had 2 eggs, so we guesstimated and put in 3, following your order of mixing and then making two 8″ round layers. It came out great, very thin layers but not “too” thin, and quite a flavor explosion with fresh strawberries on top!
Yum, yum, yum! This is an excellent cake for breakfast. I made it last night, but we had something else for dessert. So, we had it for breakfast and it was delicious. By the way, for the sauce I used half blackberries and half strawberries and the combination was amazing. Thanks, Deb.
This was the first recipe I made when I got a new oven! SO good! Thanks, Deb.
Hi,
I made the cake with lemons and gluten free flour today and it was great (Just needed one egg more because of the gf flour). Thanks for the great recipe.
Wow! This look amazing!
This was perfectly timed, as I had my Grandmother coming for dinner and needed a dessert. Substituted lemons and frozen blueberries and it turned out perfectly. Thanks so much!
Great recipe! I made this for a party last night – I found it to be quick, easy, and stress free. I thought I had made a mistake while mixing because the batter was so lumpy, I guess I expected it to be smoother (did I do something wrong with mixing it?).
I just finished reading a section in “CookWise” about making cakes using the concept of volume rather than measurements with ingredients to get the texture of cake you want…I may use this recipe as my test subject to try a few varieties!
I made this cake yesterday for a cookout and everyone loved it!
Just a follow up to my previous comment. I made this with olive oil, lemons and pistachios on Thursday and have been enjoying it for the last few days so thank you for giving me the final nudge to make this cake. I will absolutely be making it again.
I made this cake and it was delish!
No blackberries, so I used some homemade blackberry preserves and bulked it up w/ a few fresh blueberrys. My coworkers and husband all loved it as well.
I actually preferred it plain
Since this has yogurt, what do you think of only using baking soda and no baking powder? You know, acidic medium etc. I know of a different yogurt-based cake that uses only baking soda. Please let me know.
gWrD — It might work, but I’ve only tried it this way. Let us know if you do give it a spin.
I saw this cake and thought it would be a perfect thank you gift to one of my cousins for doing me a huge favor. Since it was said that there would be extra sauce, I made two cakes. They turned out great. So yummy! I made the blackberry sauce and a strawberry sauce. Thanks again for sharing your cooking adventures with us.
I just halved the recipe and made this cake as muffins (I didn’t have enough yogurt on hand to make the whole cake), and they are delicious! I baked them for 25 mins. at 350. So good!
My folks had company over last night, so I used them as guinea pigs. Overwhelming success–two of them went back for seconds, and one of them (my dad) usually doesn’t like sweet things! The batter is delightfully tangy, and the cake still has that zing after you bake it. I love the sauce–it really makes the cake pop.
I might try it out for Mother’s Day/my graduation (since they’re one day apart). Still have limes and blackberry sauce left! When it’s summer, I’m going to try that raspberry/lemon combination–that sounds heavenly!
Made this tonight, my husband was a definite skeptic. We both fell in love with it. So yummy!!
I went to a friends house for a last minute dinner invitation and I whipped this up so quickly! Seriously it took about 20 minutes – so great! I used some homemade yogurt, meyer lemons and frozen blueberries. The cake was so moist – I can’t wait to have some leftovers for breakfast! I can’t wait to try different variations – thanks for the great recipe.
heyy..jus tried it as an evening snack cake..Super easy to make. Berries hard to come by in Delhi so just had it plain. Still tastes soo good :)
I just served your cake yesterday for Sunday lunch. It was so good and surprisingly “limey” Yum- Yum! My husband ate 3 peices. Thanks.
THIS WAS DELISH!
Not only did we devour this last nite I brought some to work today! My girlfriends rave about your site and now I can do the same. Thanks..
Great spring zesty recipe! I used kefir, and a bit less lime juice to compensate for the more liquidy yogurt, and it turned out wonderfully. The berry sauce really makes it though, perfect sweety complement – I left mine a bit chunky and unsieved-ilized. Like me :)
I made this with lemon and a strawberry sauce and it was wonderful! I think it actually got better after sitting a day. A nice casual, yet elegant dessert. we loved it :)
Deb, I’ve been an avid reader for several months, but never compelled to post a comment until now. First – FANTASTIC site! Second – I made this cake and thoroughly enjoyed it. In the spirit of not “etching the recipe into stone” I made it with lemon zest and juice, olive oil, 1/3 cup Splenda and 2/3 cup sugar, non-fat Greek yogurt and in a loaf pan. Result = Awesome. I used frozen wild blueberries to make the sauce and my boyfriend had to be stopped from having 3rds. Thank you for all the inspiration and fantastic posts!
OMG I just made this cake and it is fabulous and so quick and easy!
This was absolutely amazing – did not change one thing, but served it with fresh ginger ice cream! WOW! The flavors were perfect together.
This looks fabulous! I’m defnitely going to have to go on a blackberry hunt. Yummo!
I’ve made this twice now, and it is just absolutely delicious. My favorite thus far has been the cake made as is, served with sliced fresh strawberries on the side. No powdered sugar, no coulis, no whipped cream. Just cake and berries. Had it for breakfast this morning with a cup of coffee and it was a sheer delight.
I made it yesterday and it was delicious!!! I can’t wait to make again and try another combination that you’ve posted. All your desserts are so good!
http://coffeewithme.com/2010/04/lime-yogurt-cake-blackberry-sauce/
This was great. I usually cut down on sugar, too, but I used the full cup and it’s fine, not too sweet at all.
After making this today, I think I will now only ever make yogurt cakes. So easy, so moist, so humble.
Well, that’s not true, I will make other cakes. But yogurt cakes (and this one in particular) have nestled firmly in my cooking heart. Thank you for such a simple and delightful recipe.
I found this recipe to be very true to its word, however up here in Canada we must import bigger limes or something, because the zest from one lime that I used may have been too much, as the cake was ever-so-slightly fally-aparty. Or it looked like it wanted to. Anyways, for those who are using limes that are more the size of a lemon, perhaps only zest 1/2 or 3/4 of it. Or perhaps I did something else wrong to make it not as sturdy, who knows. :)
I came to your site after months of not being here (ok, I work full time and also in grad school) looking for a potluck recipe for my team. I had two requests — cake, and lemon/lime. Of course you come up with the perfect thing. Everyone loved it, including the lemon-requester who stated “this is just like what was on Smitten Kitchen this week!” Busted. Keep up the good work.
I made this cake last night and everyone loved it. It really was SO easy and fast to make. A few tiny changes I made- I used zest of 2 limes, added 1/4 cup sweetened coconut and did not strain the blackberry sauce…i love the seeds. Thanks for another great and super easy recipe!
Have it in the oven now. I made it with gluten free flour and batter so is bubbling over the edges of the 9″ round pan. Double checked the recipe, not sure what went wrong! Should I have put it in two pans?
Another winner! I made this for a dinner party on saturday night and – and it was such a refreshing and delicious way to end the evening~ I am sold on yogurt cakes. Thank you!
Tried this. As wonderful as it sounds. Check out my photos and comments. http://mainelyhome.blogspot.com/2010/04/im-smitten-with-smitten-kitchen.htm
Just made this for a reception, everyone loved it. I used lemons and put blueberries in the batter, yum. So easy to make too!
I made this with orange to go with some rhubarb compote I had in the fridge and it turned out mighty tasty. One question, though – if I am making a variation with less acid (e.g.orange) or no acid (e.g. vanilla), will I have to adjust the leavening? And likewise, will I have to add a quarter cup of some other liquid to keep the balance right if I don’t use citrus?
Wow. This one was on my to-do list ever since you published it, but I’ve only just gotten around to making it. I’m now in love with the texture of yogurt cake. I did the lemon/raspberry combination because that is what we had on hand, and all seven kids plus the husband liked it, so it’s a definite winner here. I think I may try the muffin variation soon.
Hi Deb.. I’d love to make and ship this cake to my mother (in FL) for Mother’s Day this weekend, but I was wondering: If I were to vacuum-seal the sauce in a bag, using my vacuum-sealing thingie (the kind of vacuum-sealer you’d use for long-term frozen items), do you think the sauce would be safe to ship? or do you think I should I forego it? I’m not sure if vacuum-sealing would reduce the chances of it spoiling. How many more times can I type the words “vacuum” and “seal”?
Had an ah-ha moment. My cake ran over the edges and all over the oven, read every post, wondering why few others had this happen. Finally realized I can be pretty brain dead, only used one cup of flour, not the other 2/3 cups. Now I am thinking that flat cakes are from going heavy on the flour and overflowing cakes are too light on the flour. Will try again to get it just right, Goldilocks.
I realized only after I started making this recipe that I didn’t have limes. So I used lemon and it worked out great.
I put this on my kitchen counter, went for a walk, came home and … poof! the cake magically disappeared. (Either it was the little house gremlins or my family.)
P.S.
This is my favourite website.
Have to say that I followed this recipe to the letter, used a 9-inch cake pan, and had a bubbling mess of cake batter that flowed like lava over the edge of the pan and onto the oven floor. I see in the picture you made this in a springform, but in the recipe you say a springform or a cake pan… Just here to say I *really* don’t think a cake pan works.
The cake I was able to salvage had this bizarre wet spongy texture and kind of a spoiled milk flavor… While I’ve had great luck with most of your recipes, for some reason, this one went really really wrong in my house…
Emily — Sorry you had such a disaster! However, whether the sides of the pan sprung open or not shouldn’t have caused the explosion… Unless you just meant that it overflowed because you didn’t have enough space? Hope to help.
Hey Deb — yes, meant that it overflowed because there wasn’t enough room in the pan… Kind of makes sense, given that the batter filled more than half of the cake pan to start with, and there’s a whole lot of baking powder and baking soda in there — in all, more than twice the leavening as for the hot milk sponge cake I often make in the same 9-inch pan.
I’ve been a lurker and frequent user of your site for about a year now, but this is the first time I feel compelled to comment – because I LOVE THIS CAKE! I made it last night and was astounded at how good it was. The only substitution I made was to replace half the flour with ground-up oatmeal, since I (gasp!) ran out of flour. Thanks for this magnificent recipe!
This cake turned out awesome! I loved it. I used frozen berries and didn’t need any extra water. Tying to break my family from my sisters super sweet carrot cake is not going to be as easy as I thought. Didn’t get the reaction that I was hoping for. I love your blog, love your recipes. Thank you!
Hmm, my sister made this cake for me this morning in a non-springiform, regular 9″ diameter and 1.5″ deep round pan. I prepped the pan for her with a round cutout of parchment paper and butter smeared along the sides, and then had to run to get ready for guests, but I’m pretty sure she followed the cake recipe to the letter, except subbing lemon juice because we had no lime, and omitting lemon zest because we didn’t have fresh lemon (just a lot of pure lemon juice). She used Liberte 2% yogurt because I had a ton left over from my mom visiting two weeks ago. I didn’t have time to make a sauce before our guests arrived, so I just dusted with confectioners sugar and sprinkled some blueberries on top.
We had no problem at all with overflow. The cake tasted good to us; my husband normally dislikes sweets — and thus isn’t entirely a fan of my SK-inspired orgy of baking lately — but he really enjoyed this because it had the kind of subtle flavor he prefers. I suspect he also loved that it could be washed up after quickly. (Please, more recipes for not-too-sugary, one-bowl-and-thus-minimal-mess-in-our-on-the-rental-market-kitchen desserts!)
I made this last night and won over a skeptical boyfriend (“Yogurt? And what the hell kinda cake doesn’t have frosting?”). I made a slight variation on the sauce using raspberries instead of blackberries, and we thought that the strong berry flavor overwhelmed the lighter flavors in the cake. We’re eating the sauce with yogurt this week and having the rest of the cake on its own. Thanks for a great recipe!
This is a wonderful cake. Not too sweet and very easy, made it for mother’s day and with the sauce was a big hit.
Normally I’m not a big commenter but I made this cake tonight with sour cream (because it’s what I had) and it was a-mazing!
I’ve made this twice now. Once as written, but I used 1% yogurt because that’s all I had. The flavor was good, but the texture was disappointing. So, I tried it again with whole milk yogurt, and put rhubarb in instead of lime. The texture was right on, and I think the rhubarb worked well with it, but I’d put more in, and maybe a tiny bit of cinnamon.
Anyway, great cake! Of all the food blogs I follow, this one seems to have the most consistently good, doable recipes. Thanks!!
Just made this, but Whole Foods didn’t have the 2% yogurt I wanted (Fage doesn’t have a kosher symbol on it) so I used 0%. I know that’s against the rules and I fear for the texture, but I’m not cutting into it until tomorrow when my in-laws come (experimenting in the kitchen for the in laws! yikes!) so we’ll see how that goes.
The batter tasted excellent, though. I ate quite a bit of it.
hi there
made the cake yesterday (without the sauce) and it was wonderful! couldn’t believe that it is only 2% yogurt !
one question:
I can’t find a yogurt in 1 cup size, in my country they sell it in a 200ml cup.
can you recommend another solution besdies buying 2 cups and throwing/eating leftovers?
many thanks
adi
hello- tried a version of this recipe recently, it was delicious- I’m not such a big fan of citrus in sweets (something I have to work on, I know!), so I omitted the lime, also couldn’t find any blackberries, but I substituted olive oil for vegetable oil and it turned into an olive oil cake, so good!
AMAZING. Deb, you consistently have the most wonderful recipes. Thank you for sharing them with all of us! I took a piece to our curmudgeonly neighbor yesterday and today, for the first time in 6 months, he waved at me as I drove by! You’re a miracle worker.
Great recipe! My substitutions were sour cream instead of yogurt, orange juice and lemon zest instead of lime, and I used blackberries with orange juice for the sauce. The cake was incredibly moist, and the sauce a great addition to it. Might try it with a random grapefruit I just found lurking in my produce drawer. Thanks!
Thanks for a fantastic recipe! This was my first attempt at baking (I’m a college student), and it was a success! I did sub half sour cream for the yogurt, since the only yogurt I had was low-fat, but it still turned out wonderfully. I’m so excited to keep cooking. :)
I have made this cake three times now, all with slight variations on the yogurt (greek yogurt, 1% plain, non-fat plain) and the sauce (all blackberries, all strawberries, half fresh and half frozen), and without fail it turns out delightful. Thank you for such an adaptable recipe! Also, it really does work to bake the night before (a great time-saver). Thank you!
I was torn between the smitten version and Clodithe’s cake. In the end I went with Clodithe’s using fage 2% yogurt 7 oz tub plus a little extra I had from a tub I opened for “sour cream” to use on nachos. The batter seemed very, very thick. I had to spread it out in the pan. I probably should have thinned out the greek yogurt a bit. Fingers crossed, it’s in the oven now. I have some fresh strawberries that need using, hope it’s yummy :)
Please read this! This WILL NOT work with a regular 9 x 1.5″ pan (that’s the typical pan most people own) — it is too much batter. It will fill the pan nearly all the way, and it needs room to rise. I unfortunately went against my better judgment (and as a former professional baker, what was I thinking??!) and put it into the oven without reading the one person who mentioned that this happened. In the two minutes it was in the oven, it had already gone over the sides. In a sorry attempt to save it, I transferred it to a 9×2 inch pan (what most professionals use) but I am quite certain it’s ruined. Just an FYI — honestly, do not make this in a 1.5″ deep pan, do not waste your time and money, it will fail. And what a bummer, I was so excited about this recipe! I have to mourn the loss of this one before I’ll make it again. Either use a 9×2 or a regular springform pan (those usually have 2 1/2 inch sides). I still love you, Deb, but I’m going to be cranky about this for a while. :o/
Sorry you had trouble with batter spilling over. My 9-inch cake pans have 2-inch sides my 9-inch springforms have 3-inch sides — both work with this recipe. I’d thought they were standard sizes.
Sorry to drone on, but even in the photo — you can tell this cake is more than 1.5″ high, there’s only about an inch left above the cake when it’s inside the springform….For those who were successful, it must be that they made substitutions which changed the way it rose, or they didn’t use a 1.5 inch pan. I used every ingredient as listed.
All is healed, it still tastes good! I know the texture was a bit compromised, but now I’m even more excited to have it exactly right. I would delete my cranky posts if I could — sorry about that (hello, pregnancy). My husband and 4 and 2 year olds all gave me the “you got worked up over nothing” look upon gobbling down half the cake.
Thank you for the recipe.
Followed the recipe almost exactly to the tee. Only difference? I used lemons instead of limes and half the sugar in the recipe. Great as always.
Thanks again.
Sorry for the double post, but I thought I should mention that even with half the sugar, it is still sweet (without being overly sweet).
This cake is fantastic! I made it the first time for my father and he kept going back for more. The first time I used the lime zest, but added 1 tsp of almond extract and sweet cherries. The second time I added the lime zest, vanilla extract and fresh raspberries into the cake, delicious! Thanks deb!
I’ve had this cake on my to-do list for a long time, and I’m so glad I finally made it. Terrific! I don’t often bake cakes, but this is one of my favorites I’ve ever made. It was light, not too sweet, very lemony, and a perfect backdrop for the blueberry sauce I made to go with it. I made a few changes, using lemon instead of lime, and subbing in a little sour cream (1/4 c.) since I was using low-fat yogurt. I’m glad I read the reviews and avoided a spillover by making two layers. I used two 9″ cake pans with 1.5″ sides. I ran out of parchment paper, so only one of the two pans had it. Both came out great, so in the future I won’t bother with parchment. I spread blueberry sauce between the two layers, then drizzled more over the tops of individual slices, along with fresh blueberries and a sprig of mint for garnish. The presentation was gorgeous. Thanks for another fabulous recipe!
Just had to say I made this cake this past weekend after waiting for an opportunity to share (since I can’t be trusted around baked goods…). We had a friend swing by for just pizza & a beer and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to see just how easy & delicious the cake actually is. We were not disappointed! Wonderful!The cake was light and moist and the lime was a refreshing change in a dessert. The blackberry sauce was a hit, too. Thank you for such a great recipe. I will be making this cake again & again!
I halved the recipe to fit into a 6×2″ cake pan and it came out perfect! I couldn’t have asked for more, especially since I made this as my personal belated birthday treat. I was so worried about it overflowing and sticking to the pan but luckily it did not. Thanks a bunch!! :D
Just one question about the batter, is it supposed to be pretty lumpy (ala pancake batter) when you add it to the pan? I kept mixing because I wasn’t sure, and I think that’s why my texture ended up a little denser than I’d hoped it would be.
Hi deb. was just thinking… instead of a sauce, would it work with berries strewn on the top?
Worked fine for me in a standard 9″ cake pan – no overflow at all! I used lemon instead of lime and lined the bottom of the pan with some peaches that were on their last legs. No sauce necessary – its delicious just sprinkled with powdered sugar!
I made just the cake, not the sauce, and it’s super light and fluffy! YUM!
I made this with orange and it was very good..nice and light..thx Deb!
I’ve made this cake 4 or 5 times, with different variations, and it’s always a hit! I even forgot the eggs once…no one noticed until the cake had been inhaled and there were 2 eggs sitting on the counter. It definitely was very pudding-like that day, but got rave reviews! I’ve since made it with 1 egg for a similar gooey effect. I’m making it again this weekend, going to try lemon with kiwi sauce!
I made this today for my birthday. It was lovely. Because I am celiac, I made it with gluten-free flour. Otherwise, I made it to the letter. If the recipe is solid enough, I have no problems converting it to gluten-free. This is such a relief to me as I have been making your recipes for ages now and didn’t want to give them up just because I can no longer have gluten. Thanks!
I made this last night and it was delicious – the cake was more of a success than the sauce so next time I may try it with a raspberry coulis instead.
I made this cake this morning for breakfast, I mean dessert later tonight. I halved it, but still made it in a 9-in springform pan, for 30 minutes and it turned out great! The only thing I changed was to use orange instead of lime, and it smells wonderful . I still have time to make the sauce for tonight, but first I have to make sure there will still be some cake left!
I’ve made this a bunch of times in different variations, but on Sunday I replaced the yogurt with sour cream, the lime juice with whole milk, omitted the zest and added a tablespoon and a half of vanilla and a cup of choclate chips! My sour cream chocolate chip cake was a huge hit!
One thing I forgot to ask; does anyone else find that this cake takes a lot longer than 35-40 minutes. Mine always takes 45-50 and I live in NYC so I’m in the same climate as Deb. Also I’ve made this cake in the crappy oven in the little sliver of kitchen of my 250 sq foot studio and in a top of the line oven in my parents beautiful kitchen so it’s not the oven. Obviously it’s no big deal. I’m just curious if anyone else has the same issue.
This cake topped with lime curd and blackberries made for a delicious, utterly springy finish to our Mexican dinner tonight. So quick and easy, too! Many thanks!
I’ve made this cake 3 or 4 times since Deb posted the recipe and I so love it. So easy, so delicious. Yay every day cakes!
so-haven’t made it yet, but my hairdresser was RAVING about how awesome it was!!
I love this cake and always laugh because purple and green run through our home decoration. Just yesterday we painter the front door a gorgeous lavender, leaving the screen door the sagey green the door also used to be. They look great!
I just made this for the first time! I’ve been visiting it online for months but wanted to wait until the weather warmed up enough for the blackberries to be reasonably fresh. So good, my roommates all loved it. I have taken an inventory of the various flavoring possibilities in my apartment (orange, lemon, almond extract…) and will probably have to make four more yogurt cakes before I am satisfied. I love the sauce mixed with the yogurt too, what a great breakfast. Thanks! I stalk this site all the time but this was the first recipe I’ve made. Clearly I have to make more since it was easy and so delicious.
I made this for dessert for Easter and it was perfect! I made small cupcake-sized cakes (wilton flower molds), which cooked a bit quicker. I also dusted some powdered sugar over the top (to hid a couple browned spots) before serving. The cake was light and tangy, perfect after a heavy meal. And the blackberry sauce is amazing. It took a while to strain all the seeds, but completely worth it. I made extra sauce and will be using it on everything I can (I’m thinking left over yogurt from this recipe + homemade granola). Can’t wait to try out different flavours.
Wonder how much this cake rises while baking? I would like to make it in smaller pans but am thinking about how much cake batter I should pour in…
This took me more like 45 minutes to bake as well, which of course wasn’t a big deal. This was a perfect, light cake to have after our big Memorial Day fajitas! I’ll be making this again and again. I could just eat the blackberry coulis with a spoon, even though I didn’t take the time to strain the seeds.
Im not sure how it tastes, its in the oven now but I DEF recommend people to not use 9 inch pan. for the first five minutes I was in such a panic that it was going to spill over, and then for the next 20 mins I was sitting by the oven nervously watching the oven.
Regardless, it didnt spill over but it was VERY VERY CLOSE. The batter tasted delightful though so im sure the cake will be good too. I just had to post cause that was the most stress i went over during baking EVER.
Also, the batter is lumpy before you put it in the oven, atleast mine was. I hope it comes out okay, I used a diff yogurt because all we had was my dads turkish yogurt (which he tells me is like greek yogurt) sooo.. all fingers crossed.
This was very easy to make btww!
a delicious cake – I’ll use it in a variety of ways. However I must have left something out of the sauce – it was soooo bland. Strained it and everything – just have no idea what I did wrong. Hated that because I used up my gorgeous fresh-from-the-market blackberries! Nevertheless the cake was a keeper – topped with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and served with sliced strawberries. Maybe next time fresh peaches.
p.s. to Lela – yes the batter was quite lumpy before baking.
The note about using 2″ regular cake pans had me stumped. Just looked at mine again and they are definitely 1.5″ and it didn’t even pretend to run over the edges! Go figure!
I happened to have ALL of these ingredients in the kitchen today and my cake just came out of the oven! It looks and smells amazing. I want to rush through dinner now, to taste it :)
The batter for this tasted amazing. I think I went wrong somewhere in the mixing though, b/c the final baked texture was a bit stiff and rubbery. (Granted, I made the cake Saturday night and didn’t slice into til Monday night so that could be a factor as well.) I mixed my dry ingredients together, poured them on top of the wet batter and mixed with a spoon… Lots of little floury clumps like you’d get in a lazily mixed pancake batter was the result, so I mixed it around for quite awhile trying to get rid of them, not so successfully. Maybe I should have added the dry ingredients gradually? Double thumbs up to the blackberry sauce mixed with the yogurt! Reminded me of the Breyers “fruit on the bottom” yogurts I loved growing up that they don’t make anymore.
Just made this for the first time. I enjoyed it, but felt that maybe it needed a little more juice or zest – I wanted a little more lime flavor, especially since I felt that the blackberry sauce kind of overwhelmed the lime flavor in the cake when eaten together. But it was super easy and nice and moist. Even though all I had was nonfat yogurt. I ended up with some leftover blackberry sauce, which I then turned into a blackberry lime sherbet. Yum.
I made this yesterday for our son’s third birthday party, and it was a hit. Granted, the kids chose the store-bought cupcakes that Grandma brought (what child wouldn’t choose a cupcake?), but all the adults were fans of this cake. They took modest-size pieces at first but were soon back for another slice. My family also had it for breakfast this morning and it was even more moist and tasty than last night.
I changed it up very slightly. I made two layers, one lemon and one lime, then put a lime glaze (equal parts lime juice and sugar mixed together, then powdered sugar added to reach the desired consistency) in between them and served raspberry sauce on the side.
Aubrey, this lime glaze could give you the extra lime flavor you’re looking for.
I made this today, exactly as written. OK, I used 2% yogurt and a 11 x 7 pan, but otherwise exactly as written. It would be worth it for twice the effort – but fortunately it’s fantastically easy. Thank you! I will make this many times.
This was probably the easiest-to-make cake that I’ve ever made. I used the Greek 2% yogurt and it was good, but I do think the whole milk yogurt would have made it a tad moister. But the flavor is great regardless. I will make it again with the whole milk and probably add just a bit more lime juice or zest. It’s good on its own even without the sauce. Yum. ps–I love this blog. It’s my favorite.
Smitten Kitchen you are a dream!! Thank you for this amazing cake! It was so perfect for celebrating my mums birthday! I put coconut in the batter as well as ontop of the cake and I baked it in a donut shaped tin and piled berries into it. My dad whipped up a pink drippy lime and coconut icing and mum, grandma, grandpa, my brother and sister all could not get enough of it! Thank you!! Great recipe!!
I made this cake once a long time ago, I feel like making it again. However, I am on a very restricted diet right now, and dessert is not part of the diet plan. So, I am going to try and substitute all the unhealthy ingredients – eggs with egg whites, half the white all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, sugar with brown sugar. If it works out, I’ll let you guys know!
Deb, thank you so much for sharing your recipes and experiences! Even though I spend all day cooking at work, I still find myself coming home to try your recipes at least 2 or 3 times a week. Finally tried this cake (in cupcake form), substituting Meyer lemons for the limes, and absolutely adored it. So light! No icing or extra sweetness needed!
Hmm…I don’t quite know what to make of this cake. I used a mix of lemon/lime juice and then the zest of one lemon and accompanied it with a raspberry sauce. It is light, in every sense of the word (pertaining to cake anyhow). It is light in consistency…nice and fluffy and it is very light in flavor. I get a bit of the tang from the citrus and then only a hint of sweetness and I wish there was a bit more. The raspberry sauce was delicious on its own even though it was a bit thin in consistency but that was my own fault for adding too much water to frozen berries. That being said, as yummy as the sauce was on its own, it had way too much flavor for such a light cake and completely overpowered it. Also I found the sauce too fresh and tart for a cake that wasn’t sweet enough or rich enough to balance it out. I think it would be much better suited for yogurt, ice cream or as a drink mix. The cake, in my opinion, needs a little something extra and I think the sauce is just the thing if I could only find a way to incorporate that sauce without overwhelming the delicate flavors of this cake. I’m going to try a cream-cheese frosting with the sauce tomorrow and see how that goes. Thanks for the recipe, I look forward to playing around with it.
Ok so I feel like I should’ve waited to write my comment. I had the cake after it had cooled day one and my opinion is obviously as written above. Day 2 the cake is so much more moist…still light but more moist and the lemon/lime taste is far more noticeable along with that subtle sweetness and it is much more the cake I had been hoping for. It also held the sauce a lot better but I still felt like the raspberry sauce was too fresh and tangy for the cake (although it didn’t overpower it so much anymore). So I made a raspberry cream-cheese ‘sauce’ and I loved it with the cake. Because I used the raspberry sauce to dilute the cream cheese, it’s not such a heavy topping which is why I called it a sauce vs. a frosting. I used some cream cheese, some of the raspberry sauce, a bit of butter, some vanilla extract and quite a bit of sugar to achieve the desired taste. I wish I could give exact measurements but I just kind of winged it but a simple google of ‘raspberry cream cheese frosting’ should provide the basic outline I used for mine. I’m definitely going to make this cake again with a cream cheese sauce…. Easy, light and so satisfying!
I used orange zest, fruity EVOO, 1t cardamom & 1/3t coriander. It was delightful, with subtle flavors and a light springy texture. Thank you!
Hi, so I made this over the weekend and it was fabulous. So easy and refreshing. But my cake rose on the sides more than in the middle – or perhaps the middle caved in a little along the way, I’m not sure. Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened and how to prevent it? Many thanks!
Yes, 2 years ago, the Lime Cake with the blackberry sauce, made it for my daughter’s birthday last year and again, this year, it’s just way too good. She loved it and so did her new boyfriend, Yea!!
I like to report back to sites where I actually MAKE the recipe rather than merely saving it. This is my first from Smitten Kitchen and so glad I made it! While a little more effort than many of my recipes, it got RAVE reviews and disappeared almost instantly. I made it EXACTLY as you wrote and shared it with my elementary teacher pals. Will make this again perhaps changing it up like some of your followers have suggested. Thanks!
I love the simpleness and freshness factors this cake presents. I found this recipe on Pinterest and didn’t think to read the comments until after I took my picture-perfect cake out of the oven. I did make substitutions based on what I had, used RealLemon (and no zest), egg beaters, and nonfat greek yogurt. I also used half sugar and half stevia in the raw. My husband and I both loved the flavor of the batter. I think I got lucky, or maybe it was the combination of ingredients, but my cake rose level to the sides of the 1 1/2 inch side and stayed put – thankfully. It paired perfectly with the sauce and some frozen vanilla yogurt. Simply delicious!! Thank you for allowing me to create a low sugar, low fat, and cholesterol-free treat for my family. (My husband has to watch his salt, sugar, and cholesterol. So it’s really nice to have solid recipes that easily adapt to his diet.) Thank you!!
I made this a little while ago and it was delicious! looking forward to making it again.
For those thinking, hey, 1/4 cup lime juice is at least 2 limes, and there’s more in the blackberry sauce, but only 1 lime worth of zest in the cake, so can I do something with the extra zest? I recommend against adding zest to the sauce: it makes it taste too grassy. The cake can take more zest, but probably not all the extra zest.
Hi Jen — Do you mean grassy in texture or grassy in taste? (I personally find the Microplane citrus zest texture to be unpleasantly paper-y.)
Father’s Day cake! This cake never lets me down, it’s one of my go-to recipes for spring and summer. Thanks for such a wonderfully easy treat!! Just came out of the oven, smells divine, and will be served with sliced strawberries and whipped cream to a hungry father and our two little girls.
Deb, I did mean taste, not texture. I’ve never particularly thought about the texture of zest… I do use a microplane. what do you use? I thought it looked like a microplane in the photos.
It’s my habit to always add more lemon zest if there are rinds to be zested, but I guess I learned that it’s not the same with lime zest.
Sorry if I missed a comment on this, but do you think I can sub orange for lime? (I refuse to go to the store.) I have everything else, even berries picked fresh this morning.
Oops! I see the comment in the original post. Sorry. :-/ Here I go w/orange and blackberries…
The cake is moist and delicious, not too sweet. Used some of the 2 lbs of black raspberries I pureed and strained yesterday for the sauce — delicious. This is the kind of cake you can eat for lunch and not feel guilty (yes, I did that)! And of course I never feel guilty eating cake for breakfast. As a side note, the green flecks of lime zest in the very golden colored cake look slightly like bits of mold. Doesn’t deter me from eating it though.
Hi
Lovely post ! :3
Want to make the cake, BUT i don’t have any oil. ONLY BUTTER,Can I subtitute it? And yes how much butter ?
– hope someone Can help me
:-D
Hi Asta — You would use the same amount of butter, melted and cooled. Try to get your other ingredients (yogurt and eggs) to room temperature or they’ll cause the butter to seize which shouldn’t affect outcomes but still will keep it from incorporating as well.
I substituted coconut milk for the milk/yogurt and it came out great!
I just made this cake, it is amazing!!! WoW what a great recipe, light fluffy and super super miost. This cake is very easy to make and the best one Ihave made in a long time. Make it you will love it.
Hi Deb, I’ve made this cake twice, and while it’s tasted great both times, I had the same problem as a couple of other reviewers, with the flour forming lots of little lumps when I mixed it into the batter, which were noticeable in the final product. Is there any way to avoid this?
If you’re having trouble with lumps, you can sift it a little, stir it in, sift some more, repeat, etc. so they’re less likely to form.
This is delicious! I always have lumps, but I’ve never noticed any lumps in the baked cake. To make the sauce since I don’t have our blender leaks and we don’t have a food processor. I cook the mixture until simmering and then take the hand blender and purée. Then proceed with the directions. (I also use part powered sugar to help thicken the sauce because I use more water.)
Thanks Deb!:)
I made this cake tonight (but forgot the salt, oops!) and it was absolutely delicious on top of being easy! My boyfriend had to eat two slices. It’s very filling. I accidentally added too little lime juice to the blackberry sauce but it still turned out great.
this is delicious with lemon juice instead of lime and a pinch of nutmeg instead of the lime zest. thanks for a great everyday cake.
I haven’t tried the cake recipe yet, but I was delighted to find a recipe that I can use my backyard black raspberry syrup.
Such an easy cake: I started making it when people showed up for the dinner party, delighted that I had all the ingredients on hand. My gluten free version was 1 cup of gluten-free all purpose flour + 2/3 cup almond flour: turned out moist and airy. It did sink in the middle but since it is already devoured that is nothing to worry about. The blackberry sauce is terrific.
I made a half recipe in a 6×3 pan and it came out beautifully. Took about 45 mins to bake though. I also made a strawberry sauce that paired well with it very well :)
I tried making this.. but it turned out to be more dense rather than the light fluffy cake I was expecting by looking at the picture.. =( Checked the recipe again and am pretty sure I followed it correctly.. can anyone help and let me know what could have gone wrong?
Hi T — The cake should have a moist firmish crumb, but shouldn’t be overly dense. The lightness comes from leavening.
I love this cake! I make it all the time. I have made the original version, but I occasionally make it with lemon instead of lime, or with a combination of the two (depending on what I have in the fridge). I have also served it with a simple strawberry coulis or just dusted with powdered sugar. It is always delicious!
Made this cake tonight for a party. I’d never had a yogurt cake before. It was so easy and was a huge hit! Made it in a cake pan and it turned out perfect! It feels pretty awesome to make something and have it turn out exactly as it looked in the pucture. Everyone thought it was beautiful and delicious! Can’t wait to try different combinations. Thanks for the great recipe!
I have made this cake many, many times and it’s always a huge hit. One of my friend’s did ask if it could be made using almond flour rather than the AP flour, and I have no idea. I’m planning on giving it a shot this week, but any suggestions? I was also going to swap the plain yogurt for almond yogurt, I think that’ll be fine, but I have no idea what messing with the gluten will do. Any suggestions would help!
So I tried this out swapping almond yogurt for the regular yogurt and almond meal for the flour. It works, but it’s definitely not the same recipe, much more like the nigella clementine almond cake. I tried making this as a cake and as mini cupcakes, it doesn’t really work in small tins, it deflates, but as a cake it works. I would probably add an extra egg next time. It’s delicious and chewy from the almonds, but the recipe as is with ap flour is so great, it’s not worth messing with :)
I made this tonight for a dessert party and it came out beautifully and was a big hit. My only changes were 1) I added shredded coconut to the batter, and 2) instead of the blackberry sauce I used the pineapple glaze from your pina colada cake recipe.
Wait, I lied. I also used self-rising flour so I left out the baking powder/soda, but that was only because we didn’t have any all-purpose flour in the house.
Definitely keeping this in my back pocket for the future!
Like Maya, I also used a 9″ cake pan with 1.5″ sides and had a fair bit of overflow. Next time I’ll use the springform!
just finally making this for my husband’s birthday dinner tonight, but the sauce/coulis isn’t working. using my vitamix and blackberries that i had frozen myself from fresh farmer’s market ones earlier this summer. have now added the full amount of water plus a T more and it’s still completely thick, with even the vitamix unable to make it work.
also, can you add that the pan should be 2″ minimum deep? mine is also 1.5″ and i only just now saw the earlier comment about it overflowing. 10 more minutes of baking on mine and I’m crossing my fingers! it’s way poofed up but not overflowing the sides…yet.
Looks lovely, can’t wait to try it out! Thank you for some brilliant recipies, you are a true inspiration for the perfect dinner party :)
Have been making your lemon yogurt anything cake for a year and half now and would have again except I realised just as I was beginning that I had only two eggs in the house. Fortunately a commenter on that recipe had mentioned this cake (and the magic words, 2 eggs) so I discovered – and made – this recipe at 10 pm. You did say this is an anytime cake :). Subbed olive oil for vegetable and added the zest of another lime for a more pronounced flavour and also because I had no berries to make a coulis with. I’ve always loved the lemon yogurt cake but this may be a notch above, it’s so light and moist, with a fairly loose crumb. My batter did have lumps too but I resisted the urge to stir it frenetically and I’m glad I did – the lightness this cake achieves is magical. We hadn’t eaten dinner but that didn’t stop my husband from eating three slices of not-fully-cool cake straight from the pan. To replace the coulis I thinned the last of a little blueberry jam with warm water and a little lime juice and it was superb. The rest of the cake has been topped with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and promises to be magical for Sunday breakfast with an espresso on the side.
Doubled the recipe last night to make 2 cakes. Just put powdered sugar on top. It is so delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!
I tried this recipe out last night for my husband’s birthday dinner and it was a hit! I used chobani Greek yogurt because it’s all I had, and it turned out delicious! Everyone loved it, even my husband who doesn’t prefer desserts. His father had 2 pieces of cake within 10 minutes which surprised his wife. Let’s just say the birthday dinner last night consisted of individuals who aren’t into desserts (besides me).
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I LOVE your site! Best, Rachel.
Okay, so I did the superbowl all wrong. Instead of making something icky-sticky, fried, super sugary, and/or out of a box for a dessert, I made this. I couldn’t find my regular springform pan so I made this in a springform pan with a hole in the center. After it cooled, I filled the hole with vanilla bean whipped cream, sprinkled confectioner sugar over the whole cake and served with the blackberry sauce (I used lemon juice instead of lime in the sauce and I halved the sugar, it was amazing).
I plopped this bad boy down next to the chips, salsa, chicken wings and dip – and it was a hit! Moist, flavorful crumb with the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness. The whipped cream was a nice addition with the tart blackberry sauce to cut through. Will DEFINITELY make this again. Thanks!
just had my first piece (of many)! For the sauce, I used frozen blackberries and subbed the 1/8th cup water with…tequila! Next time I might even add a splash more. Would highly recommend : ) Thanks, Deb!
Made this yesterday to bring to a dinner party. Used lime 2% Chobani yogurt and only 1/2 the sugar (since the yogurt is sweetened). Cake was delicious. Didn’t put the lime juice in but I would next time since the lime flavor turned out to be very subtle and could have been more pronounced. I pureed strawberries, and they were an excellent topping. Definitely will make this again — probably tomorrow for a Book Club meeting!
Just made this tonight, and it was fantastic. I replaced the vegetable oil with lime olive oil to help boost the lime flavor, and it was perfect. I was a little worried that the olive oil would make the cake too dense, but it was still really light. Very refreshing dessert with the chilled blackberry coulis.
My absolute favourite cake of all time to make and eat! It comes together really quickly and is so versatile that you can use the same base for every summer get-together and nobody will realize they are eating the same cake. When I’m taking it somewhere where people will be eating with their hands, I just dump the fruit I would have used in the sauce right into the batter. I love cakes that are just barely sweet, so I do reduce the sugar a little, but my family would probably protest if they knew. Smitten Kitchen never lets me down!
This is a go-to: I make it at least once a month, without the sauce, as a ‘breakfast/hanging around the kitchen when you need a snack’ cake. We only ever seem to have low fat yoghurt and it’s always fine. I usually bump up the zest a little. I just ate a slice on day three and it’s better than it was fresh out of the oven.
Replying to my own comment to note that a) I still make this regularly and b) this mixture makes nine good-sized muffins, by which I mean standard muffin cups filled to the brim to encourage overspill. A handful of blueberries is a nice addition (assuming you’re forgoing the sauce). I also like to zest and juice an extra lime and mix both with some icing/confectioner’s sugar to make a drizzle.
I just made this in two different flavors, and baked them for 60 mins in loaf pans.
In the first one I used satsumas. You’ll need to pick firmer ones with thicker, closer flesh, for zesting, and you’ll need at least three.
Going off of this, https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/white-pepper-and-ginger-lemon-cake/7792/ I used the ratio of ginger and white pepper, but went back to your original recipe for everything else, including the lime.
I’m supposed to bring them to a Thanksgiving dinner… I’d rather eat them both while binge watching Outlander.
Deb, you’ve created a monster. I’ve just made a third version. I added instant coffee powder, cocoa powder, and almond extract.
And I’ve almost got the recipe memorized.
What have you done to me?
Could you flavour the cake with lavender, of which I have a large bag? What sort of fruit sauce would work well with lavender?
I cannot bake, but I baked this and it was DELICIOUS! My husband was pleasantly surprised given my previous misadventures with baking. The cake is just the right amount of lime, so moist, and a perfect “just because” cake. I will definitely be making it again!
I made this yesterday and, like all of your recipes, it was great…light, limey, but not overwhelmingly so, moist, summery and…pretty. It makes you want to display it on a cake stand like the 1 you have pictured. It’s like a modern version of a Pound Cake but not as dense (or deadly), but just as delicious, which is a vy good thing
I ran out of white flour at the 1 cup mark, so I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for the remaining 2/3 cups and there was no discernible difference. This of course makes me wonder what a different equation would taste like say, half WWPF & half WF.
More than half of my blackberries were unusable but luckily I had strawberries in the house, so I wound up with something like 1 part blackberries to 2 parts strawberries. Delicious.
Hello! As our summers here (Romania) are rather warm, this recipe sounds very refreshing to me. I’m a big fan of moist cakes and after some practice, I came to realize that cakes that have oil and yoghurt/sour cream/buttermilk in composition, are moist and fluffy. So if am not wrong, is this cake a moist one?
Can I cut it horizontally and put some white chocolate ganache? I know white chocolate pairs well with lemon.
Thank you in advance. And by the way, I love your recipes ☺
Monica
Eat the sauce with a straw, pour it over ice cream, add some vodka, maybe? And by all means save some for the cake which is delish!
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Penny, good idea! :)
This cake is moist. I am sure white chocolate ganache would not be unwelcome in the center.
Thanks, Deb ;)
Perfect everyday cake! I used the strawberry coulis from another one of SK’s recipes instead of blackberries and it was delicious. I see many more of these cakes in my future…! Another fabulous recipe from SK – my go-to recipe source!
My son and I made this last night with a bag of mini-limes my grandparents gave me. It was so delicious, and so easy to make. (Full disclosure, we skipped the sauce and just made the cake.) It turned out light and airy and perfect in flavor.
Hi! Made this with lemon/lemon zest and extra virgin olive oil in a loaf pan and it worked well. I added about 4-5minutes of cooking time (because a loaf pan is deeper). The cake sunk a tad in the middle (I believe due to a bit of a slam from my oven door after I checked for doneness), but the bit of sinking didn’t make the center gooey. A quick, tasty loaf cake.
This was fantastic. A nice light cake, perfectly moist, very quick to make and delicious. I used lemon instead of lime and kept the sauce quite tart. This will become a go-to recipe for me.
I just threw this together in a little over an hour at the end of a long day as a just-because-it’s-Tuesday cake. I used lemon instead of lime and swapped half the yogurt for sour cream to get rid of some leftover ingredients. So delicious and moist! Definitely the best decision I made today.
Made this last night and it is the PERFECT breakfast cake. Can’t wait to use up all of my other citrus fruits in another one this weekend
Have made this twice for summer BBQ potlucks. Both times the reaction was the same: initial reaction of “oh, cake, OK” –> someone has a slice –> cake is GONE in short order. Comes together quickly and easily and has been a hit both times! I love that I can finish the sauce in the time the cake is baking. I haven’t experimented with different flavor combos but I will next time!
I can’t believe I never made this cake before! Made it for dinner with friends last night and it’s just one of those perfect cakes. Simple to make and unexpectedly delicious for such a simple cake. Everyone devoured it and the leftover blackberry sauce is being served with pancakes this morning. Will definitely go into the regular rotation.
I added a little over a teaspoon of ground ginger to the recipe and it was just splendid. Works so well with the lime flavor and that lovely tart sauce.
Can i put this cake in the fridge to extend it’s life or should it go in the freezer? I need to make it for an event this weekend!
I might freeze it if more than 48 hours. Without any glaze or sauce, of course. However, if you’re making it Thursday for Saturday, it will probably be fine, even better at room temperature.
In case it would help anyone, I wanted to reduce the sugar, so I substituted all the sugar for half applesauce and half coconut sugar. I also used white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. The cake is still delicious, and a lovely spongey texture. It’s a really nice everyday cake.
If anyone has success with subbing in almond flour, I’d love to hear it!
Hi Deb,
I was wondering if I could use cherries instead of any kind of berry – it’s cherry season where I live!
Thanks!
N
I think so but they really need to be cooked a little to get sauce from them.
Thank you so much! :-)
Delicious cake– delicious sauce– just a delightful combination! I am not much of a baker and cake is not my favorite dessert. But something about this recipe was calling to me- that and I have a bunch of homegrown blackberries I have to do something with! The only change for me was that I used 0% Fage Greek yogurt and substituted lemon for the lime zest & juice. Really lovely cake by itself, but with the blackberry sauce, it was perfect and beautiful too! I can imagine this cake would be delicious with just some sliced strawberries on top with whipped cream too if someone didn’t want to bother making the sauce. But keep in mind the sauce absorbs into the cake in a really perfect way when you drizzle it down the sides of the cut cake. Thanks Deb! Have never made a recipe from this site that I don’t immediately fall in love with!
Moist and tasty. I did use olive oil and wish that I had used a less pronounced oil, but it’s what I had on hand. It still tastes good, but next time will stick with vegetable or maybe even coconut oil. I made a blueberry sauce instead as well. Worth playing around with as I think its a pretty versatile cake.
I made this last night while stress-watching the news. Turned out super great! I made a couple of changes to the recipe,
–Baked it in a 9×5 loaf pan. Worked great. Not a super tall loaf and no overflow.
–To make it eggless, I substituted the 2 eggs for 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce and the result was a super moist cake.
–Used some oranges that I had at home instead of limes. Also added some cardamom for scent and flavor.
Thanks for a super forgiving, adaptable recipe Deb!
I love this cake. I’ve probably even commented before on this recipe but I’m commenting again as I’ve just made it with brown sugar (ran out of white), cake flour (ran out of AP) and some seriously sad looking limes. Still so delicious. Made it for lunch and am looking forward to slices for the rest of the weekend.
Hi Deb,
Can you substitute vanilla yogurt?
Thanks,
Meghan
I accidentally bought vanilla yogurt instead of plain this morning, and baked the cake with it, but cut back to half a cup of sugar because the vanilla yogurt I bought has quite a bit of sugar already in it. The cake turned out not too sweet and not at all vanilla-y– I like the taste very much. The citrus flavor shines through delightfully.
Made this with Cup-for-Cup GF flour, and pulsed cottage cheese (that’s all I had). The cake is SO moist. It’s not a loose crumb that will come away in pieces, like normal cake. It’s definitely more “wet.” That said, it is LIGHT, not dense and perfectly delicious. Thank you!
Just made this cake to celebrate a birthday. We are always suckers for citrus. This cake was phenomenal. 100% will make again !
I made this using lemons and lemon zest and a strawberry sauce. Fantastic! I halved the recipe and made it in a 6-inch round cake pan. It still needed 35 minutes in the oven. The whole concept of an “everyday cake” is awesome. Thank you!
This cake is divine! And so very easy. My parents have tons of blackberries growing so the day after I’d made one of these cakes I whipped up another one to take home and share with friends. I look forward to trying different variations.
My 7yo daughter and I made this last night using safflower oil, which has become my go-to baking oil (thank you SK for introducing me to it via the zucchini bread recipe!). I picked the blackberries on my morning walk and now we’re putting the sauce on pretty much everything! My daughter learned how to zest with this recipe, and of course she loved juicing the limes. It was a crazy day but this was the perfect way for us to wind down in the evening, creating something beautiful and deliciously memorable.