A hint of sweetness

You know what’s harder than cooking for one person?  Baking for one person.

Unless I’m willing to blow up like Violet Beauregard in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I typically don’t bake for myself.  My parents and sister have been willing guinea pigs for my past baking experiments - including exploded pies, not-so-delicious-but-healthy cookies, chalky brownies.  However, because of my sister’s psoriasis and my parents’ rapidly growing concern with their own health, they’ve been trying to cut down their sugar intake.  No candy, no desserts, no milkshakes (to Siri’s dismay).  Also, this is the famous wedding weekend so I’m trying a bit of a ‘clean eating’ diet to promote healthy skin and fit into my dress.  No sugar this week.  Except for the sugar that’s in my daily caramel macchiato and then the 5 lbs of Swedish fish that I eat when I come home every evening.  But no sugar except for that.

Luckily, this weekend I stumbled upon Carolyn’s recipe for Greek Yogurt Cake.  Y’all, this cake is pretty flipping awesome.  My mom would have liked this cake with slivers of almonds and my sister would have liked this cake with frosting.  I think it was pretty darn good on its own and the amount of sugar can be adjusted to your liking, as I did below.

Greek Yogurt Cake

(Adapted from Carolyn Jung's recipe)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used fat free Fage)
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position the rack in the middle. Butter a 9-by-2-inch springform pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together the yogurt and honey in a small bowl.

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt and beginning and ending with the flour.

Transfer the batter to a prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the sides of the pan and invert the cake and lift off the pan bottom.

We dove into it while it was still warm and toasty - deeelicious. Slice the cake and serve with whatever you would like on the top or on the side.