Sometimes all you need is a squeeze of lemon and zest for a simple but light and fluffy lemon cake. There are plenty of recipes for lemon pound cakes but not much for a lighter cake. So I took it into my own hands to develop a lemon yoghurt sponge cake recipe!
The yoghurt gives the cake a nice tangy taste and giving it the moistness that the cake needs. The secret to any sponge cake is to beat the egg whites to soft peaks. This means smaller air pockets are created. As you fold the soft peaks into the rest of the cake mixture, the result is a softer and more moist texture. Delish!
To make it easier to incorporate the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, there’s a little trick to ensure the batter combines evenly. Add about a third of the egg whites into the yolk batter first. Don’t worry about being gentle when folding, and instead the goal is to make sure the mixture is evenly combined. This first step lightens the batter and makes folding the rest of the egg whites a lot easier when you are using more gentle folding motions.
The pictures show half of the cake. You can stack the two 6″ layers to create a taller cake or serve them separately like I did.
Give this lemon sponge cake recipe a go! Tag your lemonny creations with @ultimateomnoms on Instagram, I’d love to see it and give you a shoutout.
Lemon yoghurt sponge cake
Ingredients
Instructions
- Start by separating the egg whites from yolks
- Whisk the egg yolks with 40g of castor sugar
- Mix the oil and milk into the egg yolk mixture
- Combine with the lemon juice and zest
- Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar and gradually add in rest of the castor sugar. Beat until it reaches soft peaks, not stiff peaks!
- Gently fold the egg white into the yolk mixture until well-combined
- Pour into two prepared 6" baking tins
- Bake for 1 hr 5min at 170°C
- Decorate with dollops of cream and lemon slices
