Dessert

Easy vanilla cake with passionfruit pulp and yoghurt

This light and lovely vanilla cake is just what you need for a simple dessert. The cake itself is a dream to whip up - just 15 minutes of work and you'll have it in the oven - and the passionfruit and yoghurt topping is heavenly.
23 cm cake
15M
40M
55M

This recipe is based on the amazingly simple cake from In a French Kitchen where it is attributed to Madame Korn under the title “Gateau au citron rapide de Madam Korn”. As Mum says, “You don’t even have to understand French to understand the beauty of this quick cake.”

– Nici Wickes

Ingredients

Method

1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 23cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Beat the eggs and sugar until very pale and creamy – this can take up to 10 minutes. Add the dry ingredients in two lots, alternately with the milk. Fold in the zest, vanilla and butter, then pour into the prepared tin. Bake on a lower rack in your oven for approximately 35-40 minutes, testing at 25 minutes for done-ness. If it’s browning too much on top, cover with foil.
2.Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before running a knife round the edge. Place a wire rack over the tin and flip. It ought to drop out easily.
3.Serve either warm or at room temperature with yoghurt and fresh passionfruit.

Mum’s secret to making very light cakes (that always seem to turn out perfectly) is that she takes the time to really beat the eggs and sugar until they’re thick and creamy. Patience, in other words!

Note

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