Turkish Lime Yoghurt Cake
Turkish Lime Yoghurt cake is MY kind of cake! Soft, light and tart. This classic Turkish cake is incredibly easy to make with only FIVE ingredients!
I don't bake - maybe once or twice a year. It's not that I don't like sweet stuff, but I rarely make it past the 'make a curry' stage.
I first sampled this one in Istanbul after a day of sightseeing and eating - managing to squeeze in ONE final treat. What a Turkish delight! A zingy, citrus extravaganza. Mid-way between a cake, a flan and a baked soufflé, and quite unlike anything I'd eaten before - it's absolutely the kind of sweet dish that I love. Not sickly-sweet, not gooey and heavy. It's a light, bright, fresh and healthy end to any epic eating session (that's what I call a meal).
A five ingredient easy yoghurt cake
To make this cake even more special, this yoghurt cake only has 5 ingredients! Each working remarkably hard to creating the most incredible citrus flavour and soft, light texture. The cake I ate in Istanbul was made with lemons, but I gotta say - for me, limes are where it's at! You can sue either.
This yoghurt cake is so simple - but don't let that fool you into thinking there's not a lot of flavour going on. Baking with yoghurt creates a wonderful lightly sour note to the cake while keeping it extra-moist. This cake so wonderful on its own, but served with a dollop of cream mixed with a little powdered sugar and a tsp (or less) of rosewater, it's sheer perfection.
A special note
The cake will rise spectacularly in the oven, then fall like a soufflé. This is perfectly normal. Just look at my cake below. It's pretty flat - but this is how it's supposed to be. Fear not.
The perfect ending to any Turkish feast.
Like the epic meal I ate in Istanbul, a Turkish feast is not truly over until you've forced down a slice of this lime & yoghurt cake. Here's the perfect meal plan spread for your first or next Turkish inspired dinner party. That said, this cake is also perfectly acceptable with a cup of Joe and an episode of trash TV.
Appetizer (meze)
Flatbreads served with Turkish Carrot Salad, Beetroot & Yoghurt Dip, Turkish Bean Salad (Piyaz) and Eggplant Dip
Main Course
Turkish Bulghur Pilaf with Lamb & Silverbeet alongside Garlic & Yoghurt Sauce and Onion & Sumac Salad
Dessert
Turkish Lime & Yoghurt Cake (recipe and video below)
served with whipped cream mixed with a little rosewater and honey
Turkish Raki mixed with a little water
How to make my Turkish Lime Yoghurt Cake
Video Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- ⅔ cups sugar
- 3 tbsp flour (plain/all purpose)
- 14 oz yoghurt plain (Greek Style)
- 1 ½ limes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF
- Zest the limes and squeeze out the juices from 1 1/2 of them and set aside. Separate the eggs then beat the yolks with the sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the flour, then the yoghurt, lime zest and juice. Beat until well mixed.
- Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whites using a metal spoon in a figure of 8 motion into the mixture until combined. Don't over mix as you'll lose the lightness.
- Grease a 20-25cm springform baking tin with a little butter then dust with flour, tipping out any excess.Pour in the cake mixture and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes until brown. The cake will rise magnificently, but then fall back into place when cooling, don't worry yourself, this is supposed to happen. That's it! Let it cool, slightly and remove from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack.
- I served mine with a little cream which I'd infused with some rose water that had been sat in my fridge for over 100 years completely unused. It never goes off, apparently.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make my Turkish Lime Yoghurt Cake?
How did you go? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to tag @cookeatworld at Instagram.
Start with this one… I’m making it again for a dinner party this evening. Yum…
This looks lovely. You have so many excellent recipes on your site. I don’t know which on to start with. I wanna make em all!