The easiest cake in the world

While I was staying with mum last week, not only did I get the recipe inspiration for a delicious gooseberry & elderflower cake, but she also passed me, somewhat surreptitiously, some scribbled instructions for the Yoghurt Pot Cake.

This is one of those genius cakes that you wish you'd known about forever. There's a basic recipe, and you can take it and adapt it pretty much infinitely.

I thought I would share it with you, because, if you like having homemade cake in the house (and I've said it before, but I get downright twitchy if there's nothing in the tins) it really will make your life easier.

The basic measurement is a 150 ml pot of yoghurt. Put the contents in a bowl and add 2 pots of sugar, 1 pot of oil, 3 pots of self-raising flour and 2 beaten eggs.

To this concoction you can add anything. The scribbled instructions I got from mum read as follows:

"Add anything:

Cocoa

Ground Almonds (just add less flour)

Lemon juice & zest

Vanilla essence/ carrots/apples etc etc"

Finally, mix together and "shove in at 160C for about 45 mins" 

While I didn't have a 150ml pot of yoghurt in the fridge, I had the end of a large pot of blueberry yoghurt and also some 0% fat natural (so virutous) needing eating. I didn't have the pot so I just measured up to 150ml/pot, and made

Blueberry & almond cake

Using the method above, my ingredients were: approx 75ml each blueberry & natural yoghurt; 2 pots (i.e. measured up to 300ml) of soft light brown sugar; 1 pot (measured up to 150 ml - etc etc) of ground almonds, 2 pots of SR flour, 1 pot sunflower oil and about 100g blueberries. I lined a 20cm square cake tin and used that.

And the result? Well judge for yourself

It was moist and very very tasty. The kids loved it and I can guarantee that it will be gracing their linchboxes next term in various guises. I'm thinking raspberries (some from the freezer, gathered from the PYO earlier this summer) and lemon next time - what will you put in yours?