lemon yoghurt cake

  • ¾ cup (180ml) vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
  • ¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
  • 1 cup (280g) natural Greek-style (thick) yoghurt
  • 1¾ cups (385g) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 2 cups (300g) self-raising (self-rising) flour
  • 2 tablespoons thyme leaves

lemon icing

  • 1 cup (160g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ tablespoon boiling water
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Grease a 2.5-litre-capacity Bundt tin. Place the oil, eggs, lemon rind, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Sift in the flour and whisk until smooth. Pour into the tin and bake for 50–55 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. 
  2. To make the lemon icing, sift the sugar into a medium bowl. Add the lemon juice and water and mix to combine. 
  3. Carefully turn the cake out onto a cake stand or plate. While the cake is still hot, spoon over the lemon icing and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Allow to set for 10 minutes before slicing to serve. Serves 10–12

Photography: William Meppem

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Reader ratings (0)
BLAIR ROBERTSON

Love this cake. Make it weekly. Always works. Sometimes it sticks in tin though but that’s my baking technique, not the recipe.

Erica Jennings

We love making this cake. Whenever we have left over lemons the family ask for it. It is super simple to make and looks beautiful and doesn’t need any icing or decoration as it is sweet enough as it is and the bundt tin gives it a lovely shape. It stays super moist and is great the next day.

Heather Badger

My new favourite! Great for when there are an abundance of lemons on the tree. I did reduce the sugar to one cup as I’m not much of a sweet tooth and it was perfect. Very easy to make.

LINDA MCAULIFFE

Best and easiest recipe ever. Love it.

Kellie Jones

Made this recipe and had a good amount of lemon without tasting too tart. I would reduce the sugar to 1 1/3 cups. 1 3/4 cups seems way too much.

Martina Stoll

Made it twice so far ... Turner into me and my husband‘s favourite lemon cake.

Mary Santo

Have made this wonderful recipe a few times now.  So simple and easy to make.  I do, however reduce the sugar amount to only 1 cup.  Dont think the recipe needs all that sugar.

Joanne Petrie

Oh WOW. Will definitely make this again! used lemons from our own tree too smile

Dimi Darmos

I have made this cake countless times.. its a winner!

Allison Callaghan

I made this as my birthday cake yesterday and as I did not have fresh lemons I used a pink grapefruit. I used the juice and zest of the whole fruit and the result was superb. I reserved a little of the juice for the icing and some longer curls of zest to decorate. I also sprayed the bundt pan with oil and then lightly floured it and it worked perfectly.

Dianne Webster

This cake is so easy and tasty, it is my current ‘go to!’  I use olive oil in mine and cook it in a round cake tin and adjust time accordingly.  Perfect! 

Jacqueline Beetham

This was my first bundt and the cake was totally delish.  Will be making it again.

donna hay team

Hi Lauren, the 2 tablespoons of thyme are for sprinkling on top of the icing to serve. Hope this helps! the dh team

Amy Wilson

Beautiful lemon zing to this cake.  Perfectly moist not to heavy - really happy, I’ll be making this again.

Dana Redding

Too dense. I truly tried this today. Not as nice as I thought it would be.
I noticed there wasn’t a picture of the inside of this one.

LAUREN BRYCE-MOORE

Is the 2 Tablespoons of time for sprinkling on the icing? Or is 2 Tablespoons meant to go in the batter and then some more sprinkled on the icing? Thank you

Kay Pegg

I love this cake.  It turns out moist and tasty every time.  My tweaks - I use a loaf tin which takes longer to cook (approx 60 to 70 mins) and it’s necessary to cover the top with foil to avoid it burning on the top in the last 15 mins.

donna hay team

Hi Louise, yes! You certainly can – The DH Team.

Emily Hong

Gina Rafferty - I’ve made this recipe gluten free countless times and it works every time. I just substituted normal self raising flour with 1.5 cups GF self raising flour with 0.5 cup almond meal. Or you can even do 1 cup GF self raising flour and 1 cup almond meal. I also bake the cake at 150C, fan bake. You want to check that the cake is baked until just done. It will be as moist. I find baking for 55min or longer for GF will make the cake dry and too crumbly. Good luck for your next try!

Louise Petter

Can you make this with light virgin olive oil ?

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