Lemon Yogurt Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best yogurt for cake? ›

The Best Yogurt to Use in Baking

While you can technically bake this cake with nonfat or low-fat yogurt, its texture and flavor are really the best when made with whole milk, full fat yogurt, as the fat in the yogurt is what lends the cake its signature tenderness and richness.

You might wrinkle your nose at the thought of adding greek yoghurt to your cake mixture, but it's a great way to ensure a moist bake, while also reducing the fat content. Yep, the nifty ingredient can be used as a substitute or partial substitute for butter or oil in cakes and bakes.

Yogurt is a good replacement for any soured milk product such as buttermilk or sour cream, but not for eggs. Eggs are used for moisture, structure/binding and leavening in baked goods.

Add up to a few teaspoons of zest to your baked goods to provide background flavor notes. It can be used to boost the overall lemon profile of your bake or accent additional flavors, similar to vanilla extract. Add the zest to your recipe when called for or when adding the fat (butter, oil, etc.)

These proteins contribute a fluffy structure to cake or quick breads. So when substituting, just keep in mind: Sour cream = more dense and rich; Greek yogurt = more airy and moist.

According to Live Strong, ''You can use Greek, plain, fat-free or low-fat yogurt whenever your favorite baking recipe calls for oil, shortening, butter, milk or even sour cream. Be aware that Greek yogurt has more of a tang to it than plain yogurt.

Combine 1 boxed cake mix, 1 cup plain greek yogurt and 1 cup water. Mix together and bake according to directions on the cake mix box. Works best with Devil's Food Cake mix, but experiment!

If the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt. However, yogurt tends to increase the moisture content in a recipe, and as such, bakers suggest only using yogurt in place of recipes that call for 1 cup or less of butter.

Yogurt. Yogurt can be a really good replacement for milk in recipes. As with sour cream, it'll add moisture and flavor, but also a bit of tang. You can stick to a one-to-one replacement, but try to steer clear of flavored yogurt.

Sour cream is one of the fattiest dairy products; the extra fat content (for example, adding sour cream to a cake instead of milk) will make the cake moister and richer, says Wilk. "Fat, in any form (butter, lard, cream, etc.) shortens gluten strands, which essentially leads to the most tender baked goods," she adds.

How much yogurt instead of oil in cake mix? ›

Here are a few substitution ratios to keep in mind: Try cutting the oil in your recipe back by substituting ½ of the amount of oil with ¾ the amount of yogurt. For example, if your recipe lists 1 Cup of Oil, try replacing ½ cup of Oil with ¾ cup of yogurt. Try substituting the butter in your recipe with yogurt.

Both yogurt and buttermilk are good substitutes for eggs. It's best to use plain yogurt, as flavored and sweetened varieties may alter the flavor of your recipe. You can use 1/4 cup (60 g) of yogurt or buttermilk for each egg that needs to be replaced.

Lemon flavor: Let's all say it together: LEMON JUICE DOESN'T ADD LEMON FLAVOR (when added to the cake). Instead, try adding more zest, lemon extract, or a lemon soak.

If you use a vegetable peeler, you'll probably find the the pieces of lemon peel are too large and that you have taken off some of the pith as well, which is the white part underneath the zest. This is very bitter and can make your final cake taste unpleasant.

Sprinkle in lemon or orange zest to give your box cake batter a hint of zing. You can also replace the water with lemon, orange or lime juice or soda. Use this method with any type of cake mix, but it works best with lemon, yellow and white cake.

You have to be careful with swapping Greek yogurt and regular. In some applications, the thinner consistency of regular yogurt doesn't impact the recipe at all. With baking, if a recipe specifically calls for Greek yogurt, the added moisture from using regular yogurt instead might make the dough or batter too wet.

Your cake recipe already calls for sugar, so reaching for vanilla Greek yogurt will probably make it sweeter than you're expecting (although it still can be good!). Plain Greek yogurt is the most versatile pick and gives you complete control over the flavor of your baked good.

So to substitute Greek-style yogurt for American-style yogurt in baked goods, remember this rule: Use only two-thirds of the amount of Greek yogurt called for in the recipe and make up the difference with water.

As Janet Fletcher, author of Yogurt: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, explains it, "Greek yogurt has less whey so your batter will be thicker, and it has significantly more fat and protein.