strawberry yogurt cake

Growing up there was only one dessert my mother would make, that she called “the dessert of spring”. It was made of strawberries macerated in a little sugar and mixed with yogurt. When I wanted to make a simple springy dessert inspired by it, it seemed obvious to use a yogurt cake as the base. A very common home made cake in France, all its ingredients are measured with the empty yogurt pot used in the batter.

Here I used greek yogurt, but it also works with plain. Just don’t use anything sweetened or flavored. (…unless?) The look of the cake is inspired by another French cake that no one makes at home because it’s a lot more advanced, called “fraisier”. Fortunately you don’t need a pastry circle or anything fancy to decorate this cake— the tangy yogurt mousse is firm enough that the strawberries will stick right onto it.

note: this cake is relatively small. (6”) so if you wish to make this in a standard 8” pan, simply double the recipe.

You will need:

a 6” cake pan (You could use a bigger pan, see note)

an electric whisk for the cream (you can also do this by hand)

a blender if you want to do the freeze dried strawberry powder

Make the cake batter

83g greek yogurt (1/3 cup)

88g sugar (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon)

74g oil (1/3 cup)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

86g flour (2/3 cup)

Whisk the yogurt, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla together in a bowl. add the flour, baking powder and salt. stir until combined.

Line your cake pan with parchment paper or aluminum, and pour the cake batter in it.

Bake at 350F (180C) for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out batter free. This cake will still be slightly pale when baked.

Let it cool completely. (it’s okay to put in the freezer if you are in a hurry)

Meanwhile, whip up the yogurt mousse

120g (1/2 cup) greek yogurt

120g (1/2 cup) heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

Whip the cream until soft peaks form, meaning it will be just firm enough that it can hold its shape. add the greek yogurt and sugar and whisk to combine. the mousse should be very light and stiff at this point, and can be used right away, or put it in the fridge if your cake is not cool enough.

Assemble the cake

Strawberries,

Freeze dried strawberries (optional)

Spread a little bit of the mousse on the top of the cake

Wash and cut the stems of the strawberries. Put aside the prettiest strawberries and cut them in half vertically. place them cut side outwards all around the top of the cake like a crown of berries. roughly chop more strawberries and place them in the center. Cover with the rest of the mousse and smooth out the top.

If you wish to do the dusting of strawberry, place a good handful of freeze-dried strawberries in the blender and pulverize. dust it over the cake with a strainer (or just scatter it all over if you want a more messy approach. Note that you can’t really make this powder in advance because it will absorb humidity in the air and start to clump up pretty quickly.

VARIATIONS

Try adding a little lemon or orange zest in the cake batter.

This would be also delicious with raspberries instead of the strawberries.

If you want a pink mousse, mix the strawberry powder into the mousse instead of sprinkling on top.