Apricot yogurt cake

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I thought apricot season was over. But then, last week, I found the biggest, plumpest, juiciest, sweetest apricots at Bob's Market, the small family-owned grocery store in my neighborhood. Jim Jaffe, the longtime produce manager at Bob's, somehow manages to dig up delicious fruit, often very local, when it's least expected. I don't know how he does it, but I'm glad he does.

I ate most of Jim's apricots au naturel. But I saved a few for this simple cake. It's another variation on the traditional French yogurt cake, my go-to base recipe that I've adorned with everything from pears to rhubarb to Nutella. This time I macerated the apricots in a little sugar ahead of time, then added the apricot syrup that collected in the bowl to the batter. The result: a moist, fruity cake to top off breakfast, lunch or dinner.

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Apricot yogurt cake

by Erika Kerekes July-22-2012

If you can't find fresh apricots, substitute fresh plums or pluots. Canned apricots will work in a pinch, though you might need to cut down the sugar in the recipe a bit.

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound fresh apricots, pitted and cut into large chunks
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp raw sugar (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish, or one of similar size, with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.Combine the apricots and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a bowl. Let sit 15 minutes. The sugar will start to draw out the liquid in the fruit, making a syrup.In another large bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, eggs, yogurt, and oil until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. (I always put the baking powder and baking soda through a small strainer, as I once had the unpleasant experience of biting into a chunk of baking soda in a muffin. If you're a risk-taker, feel free to omit this step, but don't say I didn't warn you.) Whisk the batter until all the ingredients are well combined. Add the extracts and most of the liquid that's collected in the bowl of apricots; whisk again to combine.Turn half the batter into the prepared pan, then scatter over half the apricots. Repeat with the remaining batter and apricots. Sprinkle the raw sugar over the top if you're using it. Bake about 40 minutes or until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out moist but not covered in batter. Cool at least 30 minutes in the pan.Serve warm or at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 8 servings

Rhubarb yogurt cake

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The cake: a traditional French yogurt cake with a layer of chopped fresh rhubarb. The rhubarb, simmered briefly with sugar so it softens slightly before meeting the batter, is pleasantly sour and contrasts nicely with the sweet, soft cake.

The first compliment, from my friend Amanda: "This cake is the BOMB. Of all the things you've made while I've been staying here [and there have been many, as she's been here about six months], this is my favorite."

The second compliment, from Amanda's friend Shawn: "If this cake magically appeared in my kitchen, I would eat it every single day."

The beautiful secret: One bowl, one whisk, 10 minutes from ingredients to oven. And that includes chopping the rhubarb.

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Rhubarb yogurt cake

by Erika Kerekes June-28-2012

A traditional, fluffy French yogurt cake topped with chopped fresh rhubarb.

Ingredients

• 5 stalks fresh rhubarb, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp rum

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.Combine the rhubarb and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan. Let sit 15 minutes on the counter; the sugar will draw some of the liquid out of the rhubarb, creating a syrup. Put the pan on the stove over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the sugared rhubarb about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, remaining 1 cup sugar, yogurt and oil. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. (If I'm not sifting - which isn't necessary here - I always put my baking powder and baking soda through a little fine-mesh strainer as I add it to the mixing bowl. You only need to bite into a lump of baking powder once to make the little strainer your best friend.) Add the vanilla extract and rum and whisk just until the mixture is smooth.Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Lift the chopped rhubarb out of the saucepan with a slotted spoon and scatter it on top of the batter. Don't throw away the rhubarb liquid - it's delicious mixed with club soda or sparkling wine.Bake the cake 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden and the center is set; a toothpick should come out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool on a rack and serve directly from the baking dish.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 50 mins Yield: 12 servings

Nutella yogurt cake

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I like to bake, but I only make easy cakes. I've tried rolling fondant and piping royal icing. I suck at both. Give me a homey, homely cake over a dressed-to-the-nines pastry chef concoction any day.

A friend on the East coast (hi Paul!) made a Nutella yogurt cake he'd seen on Stacey Snacks a few weeks ago and crowed about it on Facebook. I knew instantly that it was going into my regular rotation. 

I've been making a classic French yogurt cake for years, inspired by the gateau au yaourt on Chocolate and Zucchini. It's a cake that meets my requirements exactly: easy, homey, homely. I've made it plain and with variations: plum yogurt cake, pear almond yogurt cake, lime yogurt cake, chocolate orange yogurt cake. But never Nutella.

We've been going through a lot of Nutella lately. My friend Amanda is staying with us for a while. She likes Nutella. Especially late at night smeared on a fresh flour tortilla. And, apparently, in Nutella yogurt cake. That's her below. Eating Nutella yogurt cake with her fingers at the kitchen counter. With a sheepish grin.

This cake comes together in less time than it takes to preheat your oven. You mix up the batter for yogurt cake, put most of it in the pan, then mix the remaining batter with a good dollop of Nutella. Dump it on top, swirl a little, bake, and you've got cake. Between Amanda, the kids and me, we polished off two Nutella yogurt cakes in less than a week. Amanda gilded the lily and frosted hers with...Nutella.

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Nutella yogurt cake

by Erika Kerekes April-19-2012

What do you get when you mix the classic French yogurt cake with nutty, chocolatey Nutella? You get a darn good homemade cake in an hour flat. Dig in.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup Nutella

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, oil, sugar and vanilla until smooth.In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. I always sift my baking powder and baking soda through a little strainer, having once had the misfortune to bite into a muffin with a clump of baking soda in it. It's up to you.Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until combined. Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it out to the edges. Add the Nutella to the remaining batter in the bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour the Nutella-laced batter on top of the plain batter and use a knife or spatula to swirl the batters together a bit.Bake the cake about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. The Nutella keeps the center of the cake very moist, so don't worry if the center still looks a tiny bit jiggly. As long as it's not actually liquid you'll be fine.Cool the cake in the pan. Serve at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 9-12 servings

Trader Joe's coffee cake with pears

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Most of the time I bake from scratch. I like the process of scooping and sifting. I like being able to adjust the amount of sugar, substitute one flour for another, use nutmeg instead of cinnamon. I like putting my own personal stamp on a recipe.

But sometimes a good cake mix is a godsend. And I love coffee cake. And it's been a long few months of back-to-back business travel. And I was tired. Which is why I decided to try Trader Joe's cinnamon crumb coffee cake mix.

I'm pretty sure I could have made a better coffee cake from scratch. The topping was a little sweeter than my preference. The cake had a tiny bit of that metallic aftertaste you always get with cake mixes. But there was something awfully nice about getting a cake into the oven without having to think too much.

The instructions were clear and simple. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone; I peeled a ripe, beautiful red Bartlett pear and lay thin slices over the crumb layer in the middle of the cake. The pears softened in the oven and kept the cake moist without making it mushy. Soft, fluffy cake. Spicy, sweet crumb. Tender, soft pears. This cake didn't last long.

I'm not telling you to give up baking from scratch. Far from it. But if you're in the mood for coffee cake and you've had a long day, I think you'll like this mix.

Note: No one paid me anything to write about this cake mix. I'm happy to write for free about products I really like.

I'm spending Sunday on the red carpet!

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Enough hints. Enough guessing. You guys got really close! But here's what I'm actually doing this Sunday:

I'm going to be on the red carpet at the 63rd Primetime EMMY® AWARDS!

Duncan Hines, the official dessert sponsor of the 63rd Primetime Emmy® Awards Governors Ball, is bringing a group of bloggers to Hollywood to sit in the stands, take pictures, tweet and Facebook and blog, and generally act like star-struck groupies (at least that's what I plan to do). I've lived in Los Angeles long enough that I don't freak out when I see Reese Witherspoon jogging or Harrison Ford getting coffee, but I'm pretty sure that once I'm on the red carpet and all those familiar faces are streaming by in their fancy duds I'll be as ga-ga as the next girl.

After six hours on the red carpet (yes, I checked, there are portable toilets nearby) we'll get to watch the awards ceremony at a special viewing party with Duncan Hines. They've got some fabulous desserts planned, including the amazing-looking cake pops above. You can make them for your own Emmy® Awards party, because Duncan Hines has posted the recipes. Try the Raspberry Red Velvet Truffle Pops, Triple Chocolate Orange Liqueur Truffle Pops, or Chocolate Almond Truffle Pops - don't they look delicious? Personally, I plan to have a go at all three.

Don't worry, I'm bringing my camera. Don't worry, I'll be your eyes and ears. Follow me @erikakerekes on Twitter, watch my Facebook page, and look for some on-the-go blog posts. And if you're watching TV, look for a group of waving, screaming bloggers in Duncan Hines t-shirts. That's where I'll be!

Where will I be on Sunday? Guess.

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This Sunday I'll be spending the day doing something really, truly, mind-blowingly fantastic. What is it, you ask? Where? With whom? I'm not telling yet. But here's your first clue:

For the holidays, my mother bakes every kind of cookie and pie and cake she can. She has 18 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and even they can’t eat all of the treats she puts out.

Everyone in my family knows that I try to eat healthy and I’m trying to cut back on sugar. So I look at the dessert table at my mother’s house and quietly grumble. But then, sure enough, there’s always the one thing that is the kryptonite of my dessert life. So I shove the spoon in and eat the chocolate-pudding cake. Mom wins, and the whole crowd has a good laugh.

Have you figured it out yet? Leave a comment with your best guess....

Plum yogurt cake

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A few weeks ago I went to visit a friend with a plum tree. If I were a more organized person, I would schedule my social obligations around southern California's backyard fruit harvest schedule. I'm not and I don't, but this time, in a happy coincidence, I arrived, hugged my friend, looked out into her yard, and saw ripe Santa Rosa plums. With her permission, my inappropriate footwear and I clambered up the hill and pulled down a few dozen light-red plums to take home.

And then - this always seems to happen when friends give me fruit - I got busy. The plums sat on my counter for a week, then two. The skin darkened from light red to deep purple. Santa Rosas have a complex flavor but they're not exactly sweet, so eating out of hand didn't really appeal.

Yesterday, finally, I had time to consider the plums. I spent a good half-hour reading plum recipes on SimplyRecipes, noodling with the idea of plum sorbet, plum galette, and a wacky plum conserve that reads like jam until you get to the raisins and nuts.

Ultimately, though, I went back to a magical combination I discovered last year when making a plum bread pudding: Plums love Chinese five-spice powder, a traditional blend of cinnamon, star anise, pepper, cloves and fennel. I wrapped it all in a traditional French yogurt cake, one I've made a hundred times. The end result: a rustic cake with a beautiful purple layer of fruit in the middle. The cake isn't super sweet, and neither are the plums, so if you're looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth, move along. I would call this a bracing cake, dessert for those who don't mind a bit of pucker.

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Plum yogurt cake

by Erika Kerekes June-13-2011

Any plums will work in this recipe. Don't peel them - with most plums, the color comes from the skin. Some lightly sweetened whipped cream wouldn't hurt for serving.

Ingredients

• 1 pound plums (Santa Rosa or another variety)
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (lowfat or nonfat)
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup canola or grapeseed oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

Wash, pit and dice the plums, not too small. In a small bowl, gently toss the diced plums with the granulated sugar and Chinese five-spice powder. Let sit while you make the cake batter.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, 1 cup of brown sugar, and oil until smooth. Into another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients and mix gently with a spatula or large spoon until just combined - if you mix it too much the cake will be tough. Stir in the almond extract.Spread half the cake batter in the prepared pan. Spoon the plums over the batter evenly, then cover with the remaining batter as best you can. It may not cover it perfectly - that's okay. If some of the plums peek out of the edges of the cake, so much the better. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, then slide the pan into the oven. Bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pan at least 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the cake, then lift the cake out of the pan with a large, wide spatula and slide it onto a cake stand. Serve at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 8 servings

Sweets from Gourmandise Desserts

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Now this is the kind of status update you want to see on Facebook when you get home from work: 

PLEASE come over and take the ridiculous number of cupcakes, palmiers, macarons, petits fours, chocolates and cookies left over from our photo shoot out of our house asap!! Text me for the address...

My friend Clemence Gossett, who owns Gourmandise Desserts and is about to open The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories in Santa Monica, has photo shoots twice a year for her website. These lovely treats were the models. And once the photos were taken, the models were cast aside. No hesitation on my part - I got back in the car and hightailed it over to Clemence's house.

Roughly clockwise from the top left corner: oatmeal bread, red velvet cupcake, flourless chocolate cake, petits fours (which my husband called "epochal"), chocolate-covered bacon, cream puff, mini-palmiers, banana caramel cupcake, chocolate cupcake, and pistachio toffee (in the middle).

Are you jealous?

Simple strawberry cake recipe

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Southern California may have earthquakes, mudslides, fires, floods, and really bad traffic, but we also have fresh local strawberries just about all year. Local strawberries in December - that offsets a lot of natural disaster potential in my book.

December strawberries amaze and delight me mostly for their availability. They're very good, and they definitely taste like strawberries (unlike the supermarket strawberries most Americans have to deal with year-round, which taste, to me, like foam rubber). But southern California's spring strawberries, those are perfection. Big or small, sweet or sour-ish, bright red and juicy. We can go through a half-flat in an afternoon - that's six pints, for those of you who're counting.

When I overbuy, I sometimes make this simple strawberry cake. It's a quick bread with a wonderful crumble topping, perfect for breakfast or excellent with a cup of tea in the afternoon. I bake it as a loaf, but muffins would work well too.

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Simple strawberry cake

by Erika Kerekes March 29, 2011

An easy quick bread studded with fresh strawberries and topped with a buttery crumble. Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Ingredients

2 eggs1/2 cup grapeseed or canola oil1 cup sugar2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided1 tsp baking soda1/3 cup dark or light brown sugar, firmly packed1/2 tsp cinnamon5 Tbsp butter, salted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a large loaf pan (or a 12-cup muffin tin) with nonstick cooking spray.In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, beat the eggs, oil and granulated sugar together until the mixture is thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add the strawberries and beat at low speed about 30 seconds, just enough to break up the berries a bit.Sift together 1 3/4 cups of the flour and the baking soda into a small bowl. Add to the bowl and mix briefly, just until everything is combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.Make the crumble: Mix together the remaining 3/4 cup flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to the flour mixture. Using your hands, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it has the texture and feel of wet sand. Sprinkle the crumble generously over the batter in the pan.Bake the strawberry cake about 1 hour, until a tester or toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Yield: 1 loaf or 12 muffins

Pear almond yogurt cake

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I am a woman of simple cakes. I spent a month in 2010 focused on cake decorating (in preparation for Kelly Ripa's Cake-Off for a Cause, where I rolled fondant with 14 other food bloggers and Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro), but despite private lessons and lots of practice on my own, I never really got the cake decorating bug. Truthfully, I prefer my cakes plain, even a little ugly.

This pear cake with ground almonds is a perfect example of the kind of cake I love. It's based on a traditional French yogurt cake, which I've made with lots of variations (lime yogurt cake, chocolate yogurt cake, almond pomegranate yogurt cake, limoncello cake). Grated pears keep the cake moist, and ground almonds add both flavor and texture. It takes 10 minutes to put together, 45 minutes or so in the oven, half an hour to cool enough to cut. Will it win any beauty contests? No. But when I've got a hot cup of tea and a slice of this pear almond cake for breakfast, I'm not looking.

Pear almond cake with yogurt

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt (low-fat is fine)
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 large pear, peeled, cored and grated
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup ground almonds or almond meal
• 3 Tbsp coarse raw sugar crystals

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a round 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, oil, granulated sugar and almond extract. Add the grated pears and stir to combine.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the ground almonds, making sure to break up any clumps.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend with a large spoon or spatula just until everything is incorporated. Turn the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

Lime yogurt cake

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One of the first food blogs I ever read was Chocolate & Zucchini, written by the charming Clotilde Dusoulier, a food lover in Paris who writes about all sorts of interesting French ingredients and recipes. Some of Clotilde's recipes strike me as off the beaten path - strawberry basil pesto? - but I am a sucker for traditional French family recipes.

I have made the gateau au yaourt (yogurt cake) from Chocolate & Zucchini no less than three dozen times. Clotilde describes it as one of the first cakes French children learn to bake, because its proportions are very simple and it requires nothing more than a mixing bowl and wooden spoon. That's precisely why I like it, too: It comes together in about five minutes, and for very little effort you get a sweet, moist, gentle cake flavored with vanilla that melts in your mouth and keeps well for a few days on the counter.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone, and this cake takes on additional flavors very well. A little grated lime zest in the batter, plus a tangy lime glaze on top, and the French nursery tea-time cake is sophisticated enough for dessert.

Lime yogurt cake
adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt (low-fat is fine)
• 1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest and juice of 2 limes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup powdered confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a round 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, oil, sugar, vanilla and lime zest. In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. (Note that sifting is not strictly necessary, but I always do it because I once made a cake without sifting and bit into several large lumps of baking soda. Yuck to the millionth power.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend with a large spoon or spatula just until everything is incorporated. Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, mix the lime juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl until smooth. When the cake comes out of the oven, poke some holes in the top with the toothpick, then pour the glaze over the cake. Serve straight from the pan when it has cooled to lukewarm.

If you prefer to serve the cake on a nice plate instead of out of the baking pan, take it out of the oven, wait 5 minutes, turn it out onto a rack, and glaze the cake on the rack. When the glaze sets and the cake is cool, move the cake to your serving plate with a large spatula (or two).