Torta allo yogurt

The Italian boy went to the supermarket for me on Sunday because I hadn’t been feeling well and had no food in the house. Naturally, I gave him  a shopping list. Equally naturally he… embellished it. Chocolate biscuits for example, were added. This didn’t surprise me, but I was surprised to see a bag of flour among the shopping. I picked it up and looked at him, puzzled. “Cake?” he pleaded. Oh all right then.

Now one bag of flour and some chocolate chips (he wanted these in the cake too) does not a cake make. And I didn’t have any butter. Not a problem! This has got to be the world’s easiest cake to make. Simple ingredients, no measuring needed and, thankfully for me, no butter necessary. The only fat you need is a little olive oil… I think I used too much and my cake broke, as you can see in the picture, so I have reduced the quantities a little in the recipe.

I don’t bake much… can you tell? This is a weakness of mine that I want to work on but I am a little afraid for my waistline… Anyway, you will need:

2 plain white yogurts (standard size DON’T THROW OUT THE TUBS!)
Plain white flour
Caster sugar
Light olive oil (nothing with a strong flavour)
4 medium eggs
2 tsp baking soda
Chocolate chips – these are optional, and you can make a plain cake or add other flavourings like lemon zest, glacé cherries and almonds, cocoa, spices, candied peel and sultanas, grated apple and cinnamon….

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C

2. In a bowl mix the two yogurts with four yogurt tubs full of flour, two of caster sugar, one of olive oil, one of chocolate chips, the four eggs and the baking soda.

3. Beat the ingredients until you get a smooth, classic cake mix which looks like this:

4. Line a large cake tin with grease-proof paper (I didn’t do this, which is also why the cake broke – I just greased the pan), and pour the cake mixture in.

5. Place the cake in the oven and watch it rise. In the meantime, try not to eat the cake mix left clinging to the bowl (I did).

Once it is cooked all the way through (you can test this by sticking a knitting needle or long knife in the middle of the cake, until it comes up dry) remove it from the oven. Note that this cake will begin to rise and darken quickly, but it will not be ready for 45 minutes to an hour. The exterior wont burn, it goes crispy and sweet – yum!

This is good as a desert, or as comfort food like the Italian boy was looking for, but traditionally it is a breakfast cake and I love it in the morning dipped in milk. In fact, most of the cake is now gone. Eaten for breakfast. By me. Time to go for a run, perhaps…