Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Passionfruit syrup

Adapted from a Donna Hay recipe. We made this recently to use the lemon and passionfruit glut, and it was delicious - beautiful texture. Would be good for afternoon tea or dessert.

~Lemon Yoghurt Cake with Passionfruit Syrup~

125g butter at room temperature (cool climate!)
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup thick plain yoghurt
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
2 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

syrup:
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup passionfruit pulp

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Sift flour and baking powder together. Stir juice, rind and yoghurt together.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add a little flour at the end to stop the mix curdling.

In a large bowl fold the dry and wet ingredients through the creamed butter mixture and combine so it is mixed well. Spoon into a 23cm round cake tin or large ring tin (I used a large bundt tin) and bake for 40 minutes or until skewer is clean. I covered it loosely with alfoil for the first 20 minutes, and then it needed only a further 8 minutes uncovered to finish.

Leave the cake in the tin for 5 min to cool, then turn out on a rack and cover loosely with a cloth. I left the bundt tin upended over the top of the cake, which allowed space to cool but kept it warm.

For the syrup: combine ingredients in a saucepan and heat on low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Simmer 4-5 minutes until the syrup thickens.

Pour half the hot syrup over the cake and serve with cream or icecream and the remaining syrup.

D rated it 95 out of 100 and T gave it a 9 out of 10.

Yoghurt Banana Blueberry Cake

Adapted from a taste.com recipe. I've reduced the butter and sugar and added blueberries and coconut - and left it un-iced. We have a local blueberry farm where you can pick your own, and will be growing our own next season, otherwise I wouldn't use them. The yoghurt makes it tangy and the bananas keep it very moist.


~Yoghurt Banana Blueberry Cake~
80g butter
120g sugar
2 eggs
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
200g plain yoghurt
200g plain flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
large handful of blueberries
2-3 tabs shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a ring tin with baking paper (or butter and flour if you wish).

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time and beat well. I add a little flour with the eggs to stop the mixture curdling.

Mix the bananas and yoghurt together. Sift flour, cream of tartar and bicarb. Fold these two mixtures alternately into the butter/sugar/egg mix.

Fold through the blueberries and pour into the prepared cake tin. Sprinkle over the coconut and press in lightly.

Cover loosely with alfoil and bake about 30-40 minutes. Check for done-ness and leave the foil off for the last 5 minutes of cooking time, to brown the top. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out. Eat warm or cool. Freezes well.

Easiyo Yoghurt

http://www.easiyo.com/

We have always eaten a lot of unflavoured yoghurt - dessert or snacks for the kids, as a substitute for cream or sour cream, in dips etc.

I bought an EasiYo maker when T was a baby, but frequently ran out of the sachets, so it didn't get a lot of use. When we moved to live in town it was used again, but for a while now I've used powdered milk with a little of the starter in the sachet and it works well.

This is it :
*half fill the container with cool clean water - I use a water purifier, but if that wasn't available I'd boil it first as our mains water is truly foul.
*mix in 1 1/2 cups total of powdered milk (I use a combination of full fat and skim) plus 2 rounded dessert spoons of EasiYo mix.
*shake well then top up with water and place in the thermos section (after pouring boiling water in)
*leave for 5-6 hours and check for setting - leave until it is set to your preference, but I like to leave it the minimum amount of time as it is sweeter (more acidic the longer you leave it)

We use at least 1kg of this yoghurt a week; it costs around $1.35 for 1kg

Labneh is a yummy thing to make with plain yoghurt - line a seive with thin cotton fabric (an old linen teatowel is perfect) and pour in the yoghurt. Tie off the top to make a pudding shape and leave it in the fridge with the seive over a bowl. Leave for 24hrs to 3 days then use as a spread for bread, a dip (tzatziki made with this is divine), or make balls rolled in fresh herbs. Yum!

January 2008 - edited to add - I now use a yoghurt culture starter from Cheeselinks http://www.cheeselinks.com.au/ instead of the Esiyo sachet cultures. A few grains of this makes a batch of yoghurt, and one small packet will make up to 250L of yoghurt! It keeps in the freezer, but not indefinately, so is something to share with friends when you buy.