Gâteau au Yaourt
Scaled amounts are a guide — baking times and pan sizes do not scale with them.
Ingredients
- 250 g plain yogurt (2 pots)
- 200 g sugar (2 pots)
- 60 ml neutral oil (1 pot)
- 190 g all-purpose flour (3 pots)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
No French home baker learns this from a chef — it is passed from parent to child, and it is usually the first cake a French kid makes alone. The measuring is the whole trick: you tip one small pot of plain yogurt into the bowl, wash and dry the pot, and use it for everything else. One pot of oil, two of sugar, three of flour. It needs no mixer, no scale and no resting, it goes into a loaf tin, and it is eaten at four in the afternoon with nothing on it. The proportions here are the standard ones, given in both grams and pots.
Method
Line a 23 x 13 cm loaf pan with parchment and heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) with a rack in the centre.
Whisk the yogurt and sugar together, then whisk in the eggs, followed by the oil and vanilla, until smooth.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a second bowl and fold them into the wet mixture until just combined.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40 minutes, until golden and a toothpick pushed into the centre comes out clean.
Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning it out.
🖼 Step photos
