Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

How beautiful are these meyer lemons? Everything about meyer lemons, the fragrance, the lovely yellow color, and their sweet juice shouts spring and summer. Since these lemons have thinner skin than regular lemons, I wanted to use them up as quickly as possible, so I decided on a meyer lemon yogurt cake.

After some internet searching, I found the incredibly beautiful blog, Brooklyn Farmhouse and recipe for Meyer Lemon and Orange Flower Yogurt Cake which I used as the base for my cake.

I made a few changes, such as using both the juice and zest of three meyer lemons as I was not getting much juice out of the first two.

And instead of orange flower water, I used a splash of limoncello which ended up heightening the lemon flavor and really making the cake pop.

I am getting better at baking, and this recipe was definitely an easy one that I put together quickly. The batter was a pretty yellow, flecked with really bright yellow bits of lemon zest, and as a result of the yogurt in the recipe (I used Fage), it was custardy.

The cake took less time to cook than the 50-60 minutes recommended. I pulled it out at 40 minutes as it was browning around the edges. And it fell in the middle And then when I tried to get it out a chunk of the bottom fell off.

Rather than try to piece it back together, I decided I would “frost” the cake with honey lemon crème once cooled.

And then I ate the broken pieces THIS was what I was hoping for when I made my maple yogurt cake, a custardy, moist center with a little bit of golden brown around the edges. This cake is fine all by itself but really came to life with a little of the honey lemon crème. The perfect tea time dessert, I can see this being served with fresh raspberries and cream, a glass of toasty Champagne, and a sunny afternoon.

Meyer Lemon and Orange Flower Yogurt Cake, adapted from Brooklyn Farmhouse

Ingredients:

3 Meyer lemons
3/4 cup whole milk yogurt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon orange flower water
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the inside of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan (or you can be lazy like me and spray with cooking spray).
2. Grate the zest of the lemons (preferably with a microplane zester), taking care not to zest any of the bitter white pith underneath. Juice 2 of the lemons. (Use the juice of the third lemon for something else; maybe some lemonade?)
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, and orange flower water.
4. Add the vegetable oil, Meyer lemon zest and juice, and the scraped vanilla bean seeds.
5. Add the flour and baking powder, and whisk until just combined (don’t over whisk at this point, or the cake will be tough).
6. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (The cake may start to brown excessively on the top; if this happens, cover with foil and continue baking.)
7. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack, remove the pan, and cool completely before slicing.