Yoghurt Lemon & Cherry Loaf cake

If I remember correctly, it's been a while that any cake recipe was shared on this blog. In order to undo the blasphemy of keeping my tiny reader club away from sumptuous dessert, here I am with a super easy, no-labour recipe of spongy loaf cake.

I vividly remember the first time this was baked, it meet with criticism from a few friends, especially a curly haired one, whose taste buds seemed too prominent. A noble quality indeed!! I am glad, his taste buds still function actively & can identify the problem in flavor profiles of "my cooking" and also fish out the rotten from the fresh. Surprising though it might sound, true it is!! More true stories on this chapter will be shared some other day.

Back to the topic of food love and baking love, after a quick and cute heartfelt de-tour! I do not have much to say this morning, the thoughts of having to meet the Maniac Monster is un-settling enough for my balls to dry out!! . In case you would like to know more about the monster , write to me in the comment section, and maybe we can make it into a regular thing-y. Let's hit the kitchen now and get baking. Who knows, maybe a slice of this spongy goodness will calm my nerves. And hopefully yours too!

Here it goes:

• Start by zesting 1 no. Gondhoraj Lime. Grease and line a loaf tin. Chop up 1/4th cup of cherries into roundels (not fresh ones for sure).
• In a bowl  add the following ingredients together: 6 tbsp flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt. Stir well to combine.
• In another bowl, add in the zest of Gondhoraj + 100 caster sugar + 2 tbsp brown sugar. with the help of your fingers rub the citrus-y grated zest into the tiny sugar crystals.
• Preheat oven to 175 C.
• To the same sugar bowl add the following: 1 large egg + 6 tbsp Blueberry Greek Yoghurt + 1/4th cup vegetable oil + a cap-full of vanilla. Time to whisk well, till the sugar is well combined with the liquid in the bowl. You can do it by hand or feel free to use an electric hand beater.
• Sieve the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold them in gently.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf cake tin. Use the cherry roundels to crown the top.
• Bake for 60 mins till a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cover the top after 40 mins with foil, if the top top darkens too fast. 
• Once it comes out of the oven, allow it to rest for at least 2 hours. Serve slices of cake with piping hot Darjeeling tea or Black coffee!!!

Well, it is well understood that a few ingredients mentioned here might not be familiar to you. And there is no shame in not knowing certain things. I have a magic wand to solve your problem, and here it goes:

• In case you do not wish to invest in Greek yoghurt, strain your homemade curd. Once well strained, add in 1 tbsp of the strained water of the yoghurt, in case it turns out to be too dry. This final mixture is ready to be used in place of store bought Greek yoghurt.
• The only reason for adding in flavored Greek yoghurt was to add in some more flavors without much hard work.  You can absolutely give it a mix.
• Well, now these industrially produced blood red cherries are easy available. Yet if you have run out of them, or do not wish to include them in your baking, it should be fine.
• Oh yes!! Even before you ask, there ia certainly no replacement for Gondhoraj.  But we live in a digital world today and exotic ingrediants are a part of our daily routine. So finding something of indigenous origin shouldn't be much of a hard work.
• The eggs and yoghurt and all other ingredians should be at room temperature (consider this as a reminder. I havementioned the same thing few times before as well!)

The cake stays well in your fridge for more than a week. Mine lasted for a day though, I am sincerely hoping yours will get consumed well before time. Cheers to life, cheers to baking and to embracing happiness.

Stay safe. Stay happy. And do share images incase you emd up baking this, which I hope you will do. Write to me in the comment section, in case you would want to em apeak about any specific recipe.