This was a better attempt at baking without butter, but although the flavour was vey good, the texture still wasn't quite right - it was quite dense and flabby, rather than moist and crumbly. I think this may be because I used a Greek style yougurt, which, ironically, has higher fat levels than most full-fat natural yogurts.
On the recommendation of a poster on one of the messageboards I visit, I tried
this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, although I didn't use the lemon juice syrup drizzle, as CT doen't like flavours which are too sharp. I only had 150g blueberries, which was about 1 cupful, so I added a small Cox eating apple, peeled and chopped into pieces about the same size as the blueberries. The moisture from the apples may also have contributed to making the texture denser than I'd hoped it would be. I think my loaf tin has different dimensions to the one recommended in the recipe - shorter and deeper - as the cake took 75 minutes to cook properly.
Although I wasn't completely satisfied with the texture, I think this is a recipe worth repeating. Smitten Kitchen suggests several possible variations, and I'd be interested in trying a loaf without fresh fruit - possibly with chocolate chips or nuts, using a lower fat yogurt or perhaps buttermilk.
11 comments:
Yum - this looks so moist Suelle. Lucie x
I'm with Lucie - I think it looks very tasty. I actually really like cakes that are dense and fudgy rather than crumbly ... shall I pop round for afternoon tea? Lol
You'll have to be quick Chele - I think it will be finished tonight, it hasn't lasted long!
Looks delicious and love the texture - dense and moist. Yum
It does look very moist indeed. I'll be interested to see what it's like if you repeat/vary the recipe, I'm not really a fan of such moist cakes, but the family clearly liked it!
The recipes on SK always look stunning, but the (admittedly only) one I've tried looked nothing like the picture on her blog even though it was pretty tasty. I wonder if there's some fundamental difference in UK and US flours? I have to admit to largely shying away from cup measurement recipes, though many SK are given in metric too, as I'm never 100% on my conversions.
C - I think there is a difference between UK and US flours, but the trick is knowing in which recipes the difference matters!;)
I usually convert flour, sugar and other bulky ingredients to metric weights - I don't have much success with using cups - it's too untidy for my very limited space too.
I think this is the first SK recipe I've tried - in her photo the cake certainly looks better textured than mine!
Suelle, it's very moist indeed - my problem often with yoghurt cakes is that any inclusions tend to fall through to the bottom - certainly hasn't happened here! I had two more suggestions for your new low fat baking - in the past I've read recipes that substitute apple butter for butter (apple butter being slow cooked apple pulp and sugar), and also prunes in chocolate cake and brownie recipes. Maybe you might find something you like if you google those?
Celia - thanks for the apple butter suggestion. Choclette has just suggested the same thing in her comment on the 'Baking without Butter' post - great minds, eh?
Hi Suelle, I think this looks great - perhaps a touch more baking powder might have lightened it up? ALSO - on Friday I posted a recipe that you might like, for wheat, gluten and dairy-free little cookies that rely on tangy dried apricots and moist ground almonds to keep them moist and full of flavour. I know almonds aren't exactly fat-free, but these are pretty damn good even if I do say so myself!
KitchenMaid - it's possible the amount of baking powder was a problem, although cake rose well - thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look at your cookie recipe - they sound delicious. Apricot and almond is a great combination.
I love the combination of flavors in this. My husband loves fruit and nuts and with both blueberries and apples, this sounds like a winner.
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