Easy Lemon Yogurt Cake with Rosemary
An easy lemon yogurt cake with flecks of fresh rosemary. Soft and light and topped with a zingy lemon glaze.
I’m a big fan of combining herbs with fruit. Peaches go well with thyme, strawberries are excellent with basil and mint, and lemon pairs fabulously with rosemary in this lemon and rosemary yogurt cake.
Ingredients
This cake is deliciously light. There’s no butter in this cake as it uses olive oil instead. Along with some added yogurt, this gives a moist and tender crumb.
I’ve added in some chopped fresh rosemary too, to add some floral notes to the zingy lemon. It’s such a great combo.
Method
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, lemon zest, and chopped rosemary. Rub it together with your fingers to release the oils from the lemon zest. This step smells amazing!
- Add in the lemon juice and stir, then add in the eggs, yogurt and oil. Whisk it together by hand to combine it.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.Tip it into the wet mixture and fold it well to combine. There may be some lumps in the batter but that’s okay.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when touched and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- After baking, let the cake sit for a few minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack.
The Glaze
Once the cake has cooled, mix together the icing sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thick but pourable glaze.
Drizzle it lavishly over the lemon rosemary cake. Garnish it with some extra sprigs of rosemary.
Cake Tin Sizes
The cake can be baked in a few different tins.
I have baked this pictured cake in an 18cm/7inch round tin, but a loaf tin could also be used, (like this delicious lemon poppy seed loaf!)
Lemon and Rosemary Yogurt Cake
A soft and light lemon yogurt cake with flecks of fresh rosemary. Topped with a zingy lemon glaze.
Ingredients
Cake
- 150g (¾ cup*) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoon fresh rosemary , finely chopped
- 60g (¼ cup) fresh lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125g (½ cup) unflavored yogurt
- 105g (½ cup) extra-virgin olive oil
- 220g (1 ¾ cup) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Lemon Glaze
- 2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 120g ( 1 cup) powdered sugar
- Fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line a cake tin (an 18cm/7inch round cake tin or an 8x5inch loaf pan could be used.)
- Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and chopped rosemary in a large bowl. Rub it with your fingers to release the oils from the lemon zest. Add in the lemon juice and stir
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, yogurt, and oil and whisk them together by hand to combine them.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Tip it into the wet mixture and fold it well to combine. There may be some lumps in the batter but that's okay.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until the top springs back when touched and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake sit for a few minutes before removing it and placing it on a cooling rack.
The Glaze
- Once the cake has cooled, mix together the powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to make a thick but pourable glaze.
- Drizzle this over the cooled caked. Sprinkle with a bit of fresh rosemary.
Notes
*The cup sizes given are US-sized cups. Note that these are smaller than metric. For best results, use a kitchen scale and grams.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 279Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 227mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 1gSugar: 24gProtein: 4g
Can I substitute dried Rosemary in both the cake & glaze? Thanks!
Hey you could but only use a pinch as it’s much stronger in flavour
I only have 22cm and 20cm cake tin; there any difference if I use a 20cm cake tin instead of 18cm? (Other than size.) I assume it may bake differently but would like to hear your opinion.
Hey Gabby, you can definitely use a 20cm cake tin. It’s what I used to use for this recipe. The only thing is that it makes a flatter cake than the 18cm. Baking time may be slightly shorter too 🙂
Could I please check that it’s definitely grams for the oil and yogurt and not ml?
It’s grams 🙂
Can you use nonfat plain Greek yogurt in the recipe ?
Yes you can 🙂
What a delicious, easy, and moist cake to make! I used a small heart-shaped pan and that was perfect for my friend’s birthday cake. I was unsure about how much rosemary to use in the cake batter – it is not listed as an ingredient for the cake. I used less than more to be safe but could have added a bit more. I served it with homemade lemon curd and that was a yummy addition to it. Next time I will wait longer to ice it as much of it puddled around the cake but it was no big deal. (FYI, in addition to the amount of chopped rosemary missing for the batter, the amount of salt to add was duplicated – no biggie but thought you might like to know) I am looking forward to trying out some of your SD recipes next. Making SD everything was my Covid project!! Thank you for sharing your home grown happiness with all of us !!
Thank you Gail! The rosemary used to be listed but I recently updated the recipe ingredients a bit and must have deleted it accidentally! I’m so pleased you enjoyed the cake though and appreciate you letting me know!
This looks so good! What a great combination of flavors!
Thank you 😀
Thanks for sharing! Does it freeze well?
The instructions omitted when to add the vanilla extract. I assumed it went in with wet ingredients. Did I miss it? Thank you.
Yes it does, thank you for mentioning it! it’s there now 🙂