This recipe for yogurt cake is an absolute standard classic French home-made cake that can be conjured up at a minute’s notice for any occasion.  It’s perfect for goûter, school bake sales, birthdays and even breakfast!  It’s so easy anyone can make it.

easy yogurt cake classic French recipe

The beauty of it lies in its simplicity – there’s no complicated order of ingredients or difficult folding-in/whipping/creaming; heck there’s not even any weighing!  Contrary to what all those reputable bakers out there say about baking being a precise science, this recipe is basic, fairly imprecise and yet never fails.

      ingredients for yogurt cake

The trick with a yogurt cake lies in the word “yogurt”.  Instead of scales or cups you use a yogurt pot to measure everything out, making it very simple for young children to follow or easy to make while on holiday without scales for example.  Of course this will only work if yogurt is sold in individual pots of 125 g where you are.

                     yogurt pot for yogurt cake

Recipe for yogurt cake

Preparation 10 minutes – Cooking 30 mins – Oven temp 200-220°c, gas mark 6-7

1 natural (unsweetened) yogurt (125g)  (use the pot as a measure)

2 pots of ordinary flour (SR flour for UK)

2 pots of sugar

0.5 pot of vegetable oil

3 eggs

0.5 sachet of “levure chimique” (French substitute for baking powder, no need to use if using SR flour)

1 sachet of vanilla sugar (or a dash of vanilla essence)

* chocolate chips (optional)

You will need one loaf tin

use yogurt pot to measure cake ingredients

All ovens are different, pre-heat to the temperature required depending whether your oven is fan-assisted or runs hotter/colder than others.

eggs and sugar for yogurt cake

Scoop the yogurt into a mixing bowl then use the pot as a measure for the other ingredients, pouring them all into the bowl.  Add the eggs and stir the whole lot until smooth and thick.

      yogurt cake mix

*Add chocolate chips if using them and stir into the mix.  Sometimes I add them for a change but a classic yogurt cake doesn’t have any.

      yogurt cake mixture ready to bake

Grease a loaf tin, pour the mixture into it and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

      yogurt cake cooling on rack

Light and a little moist, this cake is usually eaten plain, with perhaps a sprinkling of icing sugar but it is never iced, hence why I said it could be eaten for breakfast.  (French breakfasts are sweet, often including cake, which if you have a sweet tooth like me is heaven!)  I’ve made this cake too many times to count …. it’s simplicity itself (both in the making and in the taste) and it’s always a success.

      French yogurt cake

Bon appétit!

Related Reading:

How to make French crêpes

Roquefort – cheese, pines, goats and sheep

If you enjoyed this please PIN it for later!

French yogurt cake easiest cake in world | Lou Messugo

Enjoyed this post? Please share it