Recreate Dominique Ansel's classic French yogurt cake for an easy indulgent dessert

French cuisine is known to be difficult to execute. Well, not in this case with Dominique Ansel’s French Yogurt Cake recipe. The pastry chef has an impressive repertoire under his belt, most known for inventing the cronut in 2013.

His ingenious pastry creation was such a hit that the cronut was named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions of the year.

Unlike the cronut, Chef Ansel’s French Yogurt Cake is a much easier and an equally delicious recipe for first-time bakers to try. The French Yogurt Cake was one of the first desserts Chef Ansel learned to make as a child.

As Chef Ansel puts it in his 2020 cookbook, Everyone Can Bake, “It’s a classic no-fail recipe” – all you need is a yogurt cup for measuring out ingredients.

Ingredients

• One container (7oz) yogurt (plain full fat or Greek Yogurt)
• Two containers flour
• One container sugar
• 1/2 container olive oil or vegetable oil
• Three eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• One tsp vanilla
• One tsp salt

Method

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180ºC.

Step 2: Butter and flour your cake pan (a loaf pan works too), or use cooking spray.

Step 3: Combine all ingredients except the eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula until smooth and free of any lumps. Then add the eggs and vanilla, and stir until combined.

Step 4: Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a paring knife/cake tester comes out clean. Once baked, let cool for five to 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Drizzle some honey onto a slice for a sweeter touch, like Chef Ansel does.

ALSO READ: I try making famed French pastry chef Pierre Herme's chocolate cake and the results are pretty impressive

This article was first published in City Nomads.