Yogurt Coffee Cake

I love cakes that call for some sort of dairy product. The crumb comes out especially moist. My favorite chocolate birthday cake, a recipe from my bubbe, uses a cup of buttermilk. The chocolaty fudge cake I made earlier this month by Marcel Desaulniers also calls for buttermilk. The cinnamon pumpkin cake bars I made in November uses sour cream and they turn out light and fluffy and amazingly moist. The plum blueberry upside down cake by David Lebovitz that I made back in July calls for milk. The chocolate zucchini cake I made over a year ago specifies sour cream or yogurt will do. Catch my drift yet? Dairy is your friend! Well, cake's friend, anyways.


I can often guess if a cake I'm tasting has some sort of dairy in it. I'll be at a restaurant with a friend and say to Friend, "Friend, this cake is so moist! Look at the crumb on this baby!" Friend adds, "Yeah, I love it. How's it so moist?" To which I reply, "Dairy, darling. Dairy." Ok, maybe I'm dreaming, but that's how the conversation would go.

But what I'm not so good at telling is the type of dairy used. The moistness of a cake can come from any of several types of dairy. When a recipe calls for dairy, I often use yogurt, buttermilk, and sour cream interchangeably. But with a recipe like this coffee cake, where yogurt is in the title, I'm going to stick with yogurt simply because the author put so much prominence on the ingredient that I'll stick to the letter of the law.

You are really going to like this cake. I bet you can guess by now that I'm going to tell you it's moist. But it's also full of flavor, easy to make, attractive, and perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Enjoy!


Yogurt Coffee Cake
Recipe by Margaret Fox in Morning Food
Makes 1 cake that serves 12

1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda, sifted
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups white flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Topping
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt and baking soda, and set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, add to the butter mixture, and blend. Quickly stir in the yogurt and soda.

Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch pan. If you are using chocolate chips, sprinkle evenly over the surface and press them lightly into batter. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle it evenly on the surface. Bake about 40 to 45 minutes, until it tests done with a toothpick.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Mix together the yogurt and baking soda...

Cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and eggs...
Sift together the baking powder and flour, then add to the butter mixture...

The batter will be thick and sticky...

To the batter, add the baking soda/yogurt mixture, which will have puffed up from the chemical reaction...

The resulting batter will be shiny and smooth...

Spread into a greased baking pan...

Distribute the chocolate chips over the batter, then carefully press them in...

For the topping, combine the cinnamon, brown sugar, and nuts...

Here's your topping...

Sprinkle the topping over the batter...

Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven...

Look how moist!

Chocolaty Fudge Cake

This cake is a 10. It's a slightly denser, heavier chocolate cake than a devil's food because of the large quantity of butter. But it's not as dense as a pound cake and honestly, it's just right! You actually serve it chilled, which I found unusual for a chocolate layer cake. The chocolate frosting is amazingly rich, light in color, and with a strong brown sugar, even caramel flavor to it. Not your normal chocolate frosting. Makes an incredible birthday cake, and that's how I used it. Now I just need to find more birthdays to celebrate.

Me bringing the cake to the birthday girl

My Aunt Debbie, the birthday girl! The cake was a well kept secret
and my aunt had no idea I had baked it for her...until this moment!

Chocolaty Fudge Cake
Recipe by Marcel Desaulniers in I'm Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas

Heavy Fudge Icing
2 cups tightly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, broken into 1/2-ounce pieces
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces

Chocolaty Fudge Cake
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces, plus 2 teaspoons, melted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make the heavy fudge icing:

1. Bring the brown sugar, cream, chocolate, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and melt the chocolate and butter. Adjust the heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened and smooth. Remove from the heat. Pour into a baking sheet with sides and use a rubber spatula to spread evenly. Refrigerate for 2 hours, until chilled thoroughly.

Make the chocolaty fudge cake:

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly coat two 9 x 1 1/2-inch cake pans with some of the melted 2 teaspoons butter. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment or wax paper, then lightly coat the paper with more melted butter.

3. In a sifter, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift onto a large piece of parchment or wax paper.

4. Melt the chocolate and the remaining 8 ounces butter in the top of a double boiler or in a medium glass bowl in a microwave oven; stir until smooth.

5. Place the granulated sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on medium-high for 2 minutes, until slightly thickened and pale yellow in color. Add the melted chocolate and mix on low to combine, about 15 seconds. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients; mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix on low to combine, about 15 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the batter until thoroughly combined.

6. Immediately divide the batter into the prepared pans, spreading evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake on the center rack of the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean, 28 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the pans at room temperature for 15 minutes. Invert the cake layers onto cake circles or cake plates. Carefully peel the paper away from the bottom of each layer. Refrigerate the cake layers, uncovered, for at least 2 hours before assembling.

7. Transfer the chilled fudge to the bowl of a stand electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on high for 2 minutes until lighter in color (a very mellow chocolate brown) and slightly fluffy.

8. Remove the cake layers from the refrigerator. Use an icing spatula to evenly and smoothly spread 2 1/2 cups of the icing over the top and sides of one of the inverted layers (baked top down). Place a second layer, baked top up, on the icing and gently press it into place. Evenly and smoothly spread the remaining icing onto the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour before slicing and serving.

9. Heat the blade of a serrated knife under hot running water and wipe dry before cutting each slice. Serve immediately.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

To make the cake, melt chocolate and butter together...

Sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl...

Blend together the sugar and eggs until pale yellow in a mixer...

Add the melted chocolate and mix...

Add the dry ingredients gradually...

Add the buttermilk and vanilla and mix just until combined...

Here's your cake batter!

Divide the batter evenly among two round cake pans...

Bake the cakes for 28-30 minutes at 325 degrees F...

To make the frosting, heat together the brown sugar, cream, chocolate, and butter...

Let simmer for 15 minutes...

When the mixture is completely thickened and smooth, pour into a baking pan with sides and chill for 2 hours...

When the frosting mixture has chilled, scrape it out of the baking pan and into a stand mixer...

Whip up the frosting until light brown in color and thick and spreadable...
To assemble the cake, first place strips of wax paper under the first cake layer so frosting doesn't get all over the serving plate...

Cover the first layer with frosting...

Add the second cake layer...

Frost the top and sides of the cake...

Sooooo good!

Cinnamon-Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

I know there was reportedly a pumpkin shortage this holiday season, but in my house, you wouldn't have known it! When I decided to make these bars, I didn't need to go to the store to buy pumpkin. I had 3 cans sitting in my pantry. I'm that way about a lot of things. I don't let my ingredients get depleted. It's the girl scout at heart in me, despite never actually having done Girl Scouts. Nothing is worse than being mid-recipe and running out of something, or being in the mood to bake, but having to go to the store because you don't already have the ingredients in stock. Even as my flour bin is half full, I already have another unopened bag ready to go. Same with sugar. Same with peanut butter. Same with pumpkin. I used up part of one can on this recipe, which means I've still got at least two more baked goods to make before the holidays are over. That won't be difficult.

These bars are a moist cake, not too tall, though I suppose if you baked them in a smaller pan for a little longer, you could have taller bars. The cream cheese frosting is a nice addition. I don't normally make cream cheese frosting because it's fattening, but it was such a thin layer spread on the bars that I was willing, and it really did make a difference. I served these at a potluck dinner, and then brought the leftovers to work. They were a hit with everyone!


Cinnamon-Pumpkin Bars
Recipe by Beatrice Ojakangas in Light and Easy Baking

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 large egg
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces fat-free cream cheese, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 13 x 9 inch pan with nonstick spray. Line the bottom with wax paper or parchment paper and spray again.

In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, egg, sugar, oil, and sour cream. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix until well blended. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. When the bars are cooled, spread with the frosting. Cut into bars to serve.

Makes 24 bars.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Combine pumpkin, egg, sugar, oil, and sour cream...

Stir until well blended...

Combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl...

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture...

Pour into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes...

Prepare the frosting by mixing together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla...

Spread the frosting over the completely cooled pumpkin bars using an offset spatula...

This is what I'm talking about!

Milk Chocolate-Walnut Coffee Cake

Lou Pappas is one of those authors who only makes good stuff. She's so consistently good that I never doubt a recipe. And not only that, when I glance at the latest Williams-Sonoma brand cookbook, I know to flip open the cover and see who wrote the recipes for the book. The recipes are often by Lou Pappas, which makes it very difficult not to buy the book!


This Milk Chocolate-Walnut Coffee Cake is simple to make and has classic, uncontroversial flavors in it. I made it for a presentation I was giving to staff at work. It was a great way to kick off the meeting. I just hope I didn't set a precedent that every time I lead a meeting or give a presentation, baked goods are expected. If you're listening, coworkers, the answer is NO!


Milk Chocolate-Walnut Coffee Cake
Recipe by Lou Seibert Pappas in Coffee Cakes: Simple, Sweet, and Savory

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk or low-fat plain yogurt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped, or milk chocolate wafers
1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars (reserve the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar) together with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer and beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to blend. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk or yogurt in 2 increments and beat until the batter is smooth.

Stir together the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Spread half the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar and half the chopped chocolate or wafers. Spread the remaining batter evenly over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate and the nuts.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

Makes one 9-inch cake; serves 12.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Cream the butter and sugars...

Add eggs and vanilla...

Combine dry ingredients and add to the batter alternately with the buttermilk or yogurt...

Your batter will be thick and smooth...

Combine sugar and cinnamon...

Grease and flour the springform pan...

Spread half the batter into the bottom of the pan...

Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar over the batter...

Sprinkle half the chocolate over the cinnamon sugar...

Spread the remaining batter on top...

Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on top, then the remaining chocolate chips and the nuts...

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes...

Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove the sides...

Notice the streaks of cinnamon sugar in the cross-section...

Yum!