Perfect for passover
Baked Greek yoghurt cake
Great for passover
This cake was an epic failure and I wasn’t going to post it. Not because it didn’t look good or taste like a heavenly cloud that melts in your mouth, but because it was supposed to rise more than twice its height. Mine came out the same height it went in.
Prior to tasting it, I seriously contemplated throwing it out because I thought It probably tasted bad. But after leaving it to cool down, I gave it the touch test and it felt firm. It looked perfect in shape and colour, so I decided to decorate it as I had planned to and made another cake as a back up, just in case my family told me that it sucked and that I should have thrown it out. My family prides itself on its honesty, and believes it’s the best policy no matter how brutal it is.
Luckily, the cake was a hit, not a crumb was left, and one of the guests said, they don’t normally like cheese cake much but they thought this one was delicious. I told him it’s not a cheese cake it’s a YOGHURT cake! While I was pleased that the cake was a hit I still felt like I had failed. I think in my haste I over whipped the eggs…
I decided to post this because while it didn’t rise to the occasion I still think it looks good and tastes beyond delicious but I’m not going to pretend I don’t fail because I DO! My last epic failure was at book club when the girls threw my cake straight into the bin…
I will definitely be making this light and airy yoghurt cake again so stay tuned, but in the meantime this cake is great even if you fail and it’s perfect for Passover, not only because it’s free of flour but after eating all that food at the seder the last thing you want is a heavy, dense cake.
This recipe belongs to Shuly Asulin Karasin and the method comes from Hagit Elkabtz.
I just want to note that this cake took forever to translate as most Israelis when they write recipes don’t elaborate. I researched and went to a lot of trouble to make sure everything was translated properly and I added vital information to help ensure it doesn’t fail, so if you bake this cake it would be greatly appreciate it if you could let me know how it goes, and share a photo.
Enjoy
Ingredients
800g Greek yoghurt (at room temp)
6 eggs (at room temp)
½ cup sugar + 4 tablespoons to be used separately
4 tablespoons cornflour
4 tablespoons instant pudding vanil
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200C
Wrap the outside of a deep 22cm cake tin in a double layer of heavy-duty foil,
Covering the bottom and coming up the sides. (This will protect against the water leaking into the cake).
Grease the cake tin and line with baking paper and grease the baking paper with butter not oil to ensure cake comes out easily. Set aside.
Beat the egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer.
Once egg whites become foamy, add a pinch of salt, wait for 30 seconds then begin to add sugar gradually. You can stop whisking once firm and shiny peaks form. Beating the egg whites should take NO LONGER than 5 minutes from beginning to end.
In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients until consistency is smooth.
Fold one third of the whisked egg white to the yoghurt batter. Then fold the egg and yoghurt mixture into the whisked egg white.
Place a tea towel on the bottom of a deep baking tray (this will hold the cake tin in place) and Pour boiling water from the kettle into the tray until it’s 3/4 full. Place cake tin in the centre of the baking tray and place tray on the first rack above the bottom of the oven.
Bake for 15 min at 200C then reduce heat to 180C bake for another 15 minutes. Reduce to 150C and bake for an hour.
Topping
I used passion fruit and the remainder of the yoghurt to decorate the cake .
You can add sugar to the yoghurt to sweeten it a little.
Helpful tips:
*When folding the egg white, fold them gently, running the spatula along the bottom of the bowl and then up and over the batter and whites. DO NOT STIR: YOU WILL KNOCK THE AIR OUT OF THE EGG WHITE. You will need a bit of patience to incorporate everything, and the results will be worth it. You should end up with light, airy, fluffy cake.
*Make sure you have a perfectly clean, dry bowl for whipping egg whites. Any oily or soapy residue will impact the process.