Blueberry Yogurt Pound Cake

This lovely, lemony blueberry cake is the perfect sweet treat to serve to your loved ones any day of the week. The cake is studded with fresh blueberries and it tastes like a lighter version of a pound cake.

Instead of being made with the traditional one-to-one ratio of butter, all-purpose flour and sugar, my version is made with natural yogurt as well as healthy almond oil. The almond oil that I use hails from my favorite local oil mill (here) – it has a very light color and a mild, very pleasant taste of almonds that harmonizes perfectly with the remaining ingredients of the cake. If you prefer to use another oil, feel free to substitute the almond oil in this recipe with sunflower oil or use a light tasting, fruity, good-quality olive oil.

Full-fat natural yogurt is a surprisingly great substitute for butter when baking bread and cakes. Not only is it lower in fat, it adds a delightful tangy flavor and creates a very tender crumb.

This is one of my favorite cakes for weekdays, when there is not really much time for creaming butter and sugar, and fussing with a long recipe. The method for making this lovely Blueberry yogurt pound cake is as basic as they come. You only stir the ingredients together, spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and, just under an hour later, remove the light, blueberry-studded cake from the oven. Let the cake cool, dust with some powdered sugar and you will be in for a real "any-day-of-the-week" kind of treat.

Blueberry Yogurt Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 75 ml almond oil (preferably from your favorite oil mill or manufacturer)
• 125 grams full-fat natural yogurt, Greek yogurt also works in this recipe
• 150 grams superfine baking sugar, also called caster sugar or sucré semoule (NOTE: if you are unable to find this fine sugar, feel free to grind regular sugar in your food processor for a few seconds)
• 2 eggs (L), organic or free range
• 1 ½ tsps pure vanilla sugar (best homemade)
• zest of 1 lemon (organic or untreated)
• 210 grams AP (wheat) flour, plus some for dusting the cake pan
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• a good pinch of fine sea salt
• 150 grams fresh blueberries, plus some for serving alongside

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F).
2. Butter and flour a 900 gram cake pan (about 20 cm/8 inches long).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla sugar and lemon zest.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Pour the dry ingredients into the yogurt mixture along with the blueberries and fold very gently together, taking care not to mix the batter any more than is necessary as overzealous stirring at this stage could result in a tough cake later.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a small knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Leave to cool on a wire rack before dusting with powdered sugar and cutting into slices to serve with some more fresh blueberries.

So, what are you waiting for - Have your cake and eat it too!