I love cakes which are made with sour cream and yogurt. Adding sour cream or yogurt add moisture and makes for a lovely tender crumb. This is especially welcome when you are baking a cake to which fresh fruit is going to be added. Fresh fruit can tend to sink to the bottoms of your cakes, but this never seems to happen when I use a batter with sour cream or yogurt added.
My guess is that the fruit can get kind of heavy once it starts to cook and some of its moisture starts to seep out, and by adding the sour cream or yogurt to the cake you create a batter which can stand up well to that occurrence.
I know that when you are using dried things in cake, like raisins, chocolate or nuts, tossing them with a bit of flour from the recipe helps to prevent them from sinking, but that wouldn't work with fruit. It would get claggy.
In any case this is a beautiful cake, with a lovely moist crumb. Its light in texture and filled with pockets of sweet tart raspberries, which is really nice as its not an overly sweet cake.
It makes a great cake to enjoy for breakfast or brunch, or for with your afternoon cuppa.
It also makes a nice light dessert, especially if you choose to serve it warm with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
You could also use blueberries or blackberries if you wanted to, or even a mixture. I have often been tempted to use diced peaches, which I think would go very well, especially if you used a mix of raspberries and peaches.
You just scatter the fruit over top of the batter after you spread it in the pan, and they sink down into place as the cake bakes. They mostly end up in the middle and leave little pockets/dimples over the surface of the cake, which I think adds to its attractiveness.
It is not a cake that needs icing. Its perfecly delicious without it, however I do like to dust it with a bit of icing sugar to dress it up a bit, but that is completely optional.
In any case if you are looking for a simple, easy and delicious cake to bake this weekend, then this baby is the one you are looking for!
*Raspberry Yogurt Cake*
Makes 1 9-inch cake
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 inch round baking tin and line the bottom with paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
Bake for 30 to430 minutes until risen and golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched. Place on a wire rack to cool for about half an hour to 40 minutes. Lift out of the pan to a plate and dust with icing sugar before serving cut into wedges.
Oh boy, looking at these pictures this morning is tempting me to want to cut myself a piece and enjoy it with my morning cuppa, and I think I might do just that! Cake for breakfast. Its a very good thing. Bon Appetit!
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