Turkish Yogurt Cake ~ #CakeSliceBakers

The Turkish Yogurt Cake is a cake that puffs up like a soufflé before it subsides and is then liberally dusted with powdered sugar, and it was my choice for this months #CakeSliceBakers.

It is #CakeSliceBakers time, and we are back with our next cake from World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey. A little background on the #CakeSliceBakers ~ each month the Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the book and we each choose one cake to bake. On the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important one is to have fun (and enjoy baking & eating cakes!). We continue to bake from World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey. The choices this month were Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, Shannon Bennett's Lamingtons, Pistachio and Lemon Cake, and Turkish Yogurt Cake.  Although I was very tempted by the Lamingtons, I choose to do something I haven't baked before and went with the Turkish Yogurt Cake.

Let me just say that this cake did not go to plan.  I followed the recipe exactly, well except for the addition of a small amount of Orange Blossom Water. Everything seemed to go smoothly as I put the batter together, and into the oven it went.  The cake puffed up as the directions indicated it would, but to the point where it actually overflowed the pan.  At the 50-minute mark I took a quick peek and the cake was no where close to being cooked, at the 60-minute mark I checked the cake again and it still appeared to be quite liquid in the center so I decided to let it cook longer at 5-minute increments.  The top started to get a little dark, but it was impossible to put anything on top of it to prevent browning because it stuck to the top of the cake.  At the 70-minute mark I decided that I had no choice but to take it out of the oven because the top was getting very dark, and I just hoped the residual heat would continue to cook the cake a little more. The next challenge was to get the cake out of the pan.  This was no small task considering this cake only has 30 grams of flour in it.  I quickly flipped it onto a board and then back on to my serving plate, causing it to fall apart slightly.  Thank goodness for a liberal dusting of powdered sugar to hide the cracks. I really feel that this is the sort of cake that would do much better if it was baked in a springform pan, because the sides are taller and there would be no need to flip the cake out of the pan.

Now for a rundown of the taste.  I decided to add the Orange Blossom Water to this cake because I did not understand why it was called a Turkish cake as the main ingredients are yogurt, eggs, sugar and flour, and I wanted something Middle Eastern to remedy that. Orange Blossom Water is made with water that is distilled with the essence of flowers from the bitter orange tree. The liquid produced is clear, highly perfumed, with an unsweetened orange flavor - and a little goes a long way.  It is used extensively in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and it did give the cake a lovely orange perfume taste. This cake did remind me a little bit of a baked cheesecake, but one that was under-baked, so the result was a little more like a firm custard. I did like the contrast between the bitter orange taste and the sweetness from the powdered sugar. My family did not care for it at all, which is a shame because I really dislike wasting ingredients as there was no way I could eat the entire cake on my own.  I am hoping that one of my fellow bakers chose this cake to see if they experienced the same problems, and if there is a remedy.  Also of note is that this cake is very similar to a cake by Claudia Roden from her cookbook Arabesque: A Taste Of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, but she uses less yogurt in her recipe and serves her cake with a syrup.

Please scroll down after the recipe to see all the beautiful cakes that were baked this month, and don't forget to check out our Facebook page. Also, if you are interested in joining the #CakeSliceBakers, please send a message to Anabel via our Facebook page, and she can give you more information. Welcome to our two new members this month Susan from My Recipe Reviews and Sarah from Cream and Butter.

Turkish Yogurt Cake
Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, separated
• 100g sugar
• 30g all-purpose flour, sifted
• 5g cream of tartar
• 400g strained Greek-style yogurt
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃.
2. Prepare a 20cm round cake pan by spray with baking spray and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the egg yolks with the sugar until they form a thick, pale cream.
4. Beat in the sifted flour, then add the yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and Orange Blossom Water and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
5. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold them into the yogurt batter.
6. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.
7. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is brown (it will puff up like a soufflé and then subside).
8. Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a serving plate.
9. When cool dust liberally with powdered sugar.

Recipe slightly adapted from World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey
For US Measurements please click here

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