Coming home from being out of town is always a wonderful feeling. Not that I don’t love going away, I just adore the comforts of home and especially being with G. I usually try to leave a few pre-prepared dinners for him when I am away so that he doesn’t have to worry about cooking too much. He is a great cook but sometimes time can be a little limited. So when I return I like to assess what has been used, what needs to be used and what may need to go to food heaven. One of the things that I discovered in the fridge this time was a tub of yoghurt that I had made before I left. It was still ok but needed to be used. I decided to make some tandoori chicken for dinner last night (which was delicious) so that used about half of what I had. Today I wanted to make something sweet. I trawled the internet to find something suitable and discovered many yoghurt cake recipes, most of which had the inclusion of lemon. I wished I had a spare lemon but alas, the cupboard was bare. After much surfing I found this little gem, and given that it would use up all of the yoghurt that I had left, it was the winner.
fudgey valentine yogurt cake
makes 22cm square cake 
My tips: *If you don’t overcook this cake it will come out with a soft, almost brownie like consistency. *I lined the tin with greaseproof paper to make removal from the pan easier. *Use the best cocoa that you can afford, it makes an immense difference. *I didn’t decorate these because they were delicious on their own. *I would cut them into larger squares and add a dollop of cream or some good quality vanilla ice-cream if I was serving it as a dessert.
ease: 9/10. If you can bake a cake you can do this.
prep time: 20 mins + cooling and decorating.
cooking time: 35mins.
total: 1hour 10mins including cooling and decorating.
taste: 9/10. I cut these into bite size pieces which was a dangerous thing to do. When you eat one piece you think it is a tiny bite so you can afford to have another, then another. I consumed, or should I say inhaled, six (or was it eight) within the first 30 minutes of them being out of the oven. I would say they were a cross between a brownie and chocolate cake. You will notice the density when mixing the ingredients then once you add the yoghurt an unexpected lightness is created. This is definitely what gave this cake its brownie like texture.
The remainder were sent to G’s office (as they needed to be removed from the house – for my own sake) and critiqued by many discerning tasters. The general consensus was that the texture was better than that of a normal brownie and the flavour was a great balance of chocolate and sweetness without being too rich. The storage container came home completely empty which is always a good sign.
would I make it again: Absolutely – I love the fact that I didn’t have to use melted chocolate to achieve a smooth, slightly dense, crumbly texture and rich chocolate flavour. I also can’t think of a better way to use up yoghurt!
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