Yogurt Cake

In 1994 I bought a book by Jacques Pepin titled Simple and Healthy Cooking. In its introduction Pepin speaks of reducing the proportions of fats and sugars while always maintaining his focus on taste. This is a book to which I return over and over for its high quality healthy renditions of favorite foods. I strongly recommend you buy this book and try your hand at his wonderful easy recipes. All of his recipes in this and other books have the nutritional content which allows you to keep track of what you are eating. Pepin continued to produce books with the same themes and they are well worth reading.

I have been yearning for cake and so today made his yogurt cake.

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Corn or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup fat free yogurt
1 cup sifted cake flour ( I used whole wheat pastry flour instead)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 egg whites
5 cups fresh blueberries, washed drained and patted dry

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Lightly coat an 8" round cake pan with vegetable cooking pray and set the pan aside. ( I used a bit of oil on a paper towel instead)Place the sugar, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Combine with a wisk until well blended. Add the milk and yogurt, mix well. Then add the flour and baking soda and mix gently until they are incorporated. Place the eggwhites in a copper or stainless steel mixing bowl. Beat by hand with a large balloon whisk or with an electric mixer (fitted with a whisk attachment) at medium to high speed until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted. Fold them into the batter. ( don't be too perfect with the folding..the idea is to not completely deflate the whites which will lift your cake..some streaks of white will be ok) pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan on a cake rack until it is lukewarm, then inbert it onto the rack and cool it completely.
To serve, cut the cake into 10 pieces. Tope each piece with 1/2 cup berries. I used frozen berries from Maine and sprinkled a bit of confectioners sugar through a sieve over the top of the cake.

This cake freezes well so I cut it in half and wrapped it first carefully in waxed paper then tucked it into a ziplock bag. To defrost place in the refrigerator

Here is a slightly different version..Lemon flavored

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/138450/Lemon-Yogurt-Cake-with-Fresh-Berries

each piece is 162 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 0.6 grams saturated fat, 0 cholesterol, 64 mg sodium