Turkish yogurt cake

I just joined a new group, The Cake Slice Bakers, and am so excited about participating in the upcoming baking challenges!

Each month four very different cakes are chosen from the cookbook of a prominent baker – in this case, Roger Pizey’s “World Class Cakes” –  and we get to choose one of those to bake and post. The best part of this? We get to eat a different and fun cake every month!

This month’s Turkish Yogurt Cake caught my eye, as it was described as being simple, light and “a little like a cheesecake.” So off to Turkey we go.

I’m not sure about the simple part. It’s a little more tricky than it looks! It’s beautiful and creamy and then whipped egg whites are folded into it, making a light, fluffy batter.

One of the main ingredients is strained Greek yogurt, which I surprisingly found at my local grocery store. It’s a little messy to deal with and I’m still cleaning yogurt out from under my fingernails…

Roger Pizey’s photos of the cake were just beautiful! I decided to try to duplicate them by turning the cake out onto a plate. It didn’t quite cooperate and split in a few places, so don’t look too closely at it.

Turkish Yogurt Cake definitely has a yogurt tang. I’d call the cake a cross between an egg souffle and a fluffy cheesecake.

It’s an unusual, but not totally unpleasant texture and besides the pungent yogurt taste, also has quite a bit of lemon flavor. If I make it again, I’ll definitely put a teaspoon or so of vanilla for a deeper flavor.

This first cake challenge with The Cake Slice Bakers was so much fun! I look forward to getting to know the other bakers and diving into the next challenge!

Turkish Yogurt Cake

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

A cross between an egg souffle and a light, fluffy cheesecake.  From Roger Pizey's World Class Cakes.

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Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, divided
• 1/2 C superfine sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 3/4 C strained Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon, grated and juiced
• confectioner's sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 9" round cake pan.
2. Beat together the egg yolks and the sugar.  Ad in the sifted flour, the yogurt, the zest and juice of the lemon, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly together.
3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the yogurt batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in a preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the top is brown.  It will puff up like a souffle and then subside.
5. When completely cooled, dust with confectioner's sugar.  

Notes

Make sure and have all of the ingredients ready to blend together - it can get messy!

I don't have an 9-inch cake pan, so I used a tall 8-inch and baked it until the top was golden brown - almost the full hour until a knife slid gently into the middle of it came out clean.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 248Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 127mgSodium: 72mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 1gSugar: 39gProtein: 11g

Nutrition Values are Approximate