Recipe: Apple Yogurt Cake with a Cinnamon-Sugar Streak

My recipe stories seem to fall into a predictable rut: I had to feed a few people, and I needed something easy and simple, and so this recipe was born. But honestly, that’s the way I cook. I look for recipes that give maximum pleasure at the lowest common denominator of work, ingredients, and convenience. The results aren’t always worth talking about, but this recipe — oh, this one is. It’s a moist cake with a crumb that’s almost creamy, swirled with cinnamon, and juicy with small bites of apple. It will take you about 15 minutes to make, and regardless of whether my story gets old, this recipe never will.

This recipe materialized during a week of cooking for a group of scientists doing research in snowy Colorado. The first night we were there, I needed a quick, simple dessert. I had all the makings of a yogurt cake, like this simple, favorite recipe. But I had been craving spring’s sweet fruits and berries. They were not really around yet, of course, but I wanted a bite of fruit. So I turned to apples.

Over-wintered apples are always available, and I love their mild sweetness and brightness when cut up very small and baked in a cake. They are juicy little pops of fruit. I also craved cinnamon, and so I spread a crumbly mix of cinnamon and brown sugar through the middle and over the top of this cake. This created a cinnamon streak running right through the cake, and a dimpled, puckered top filled with brown sugar glaze.

The beautiful thing about this cake, besides its moist lusciousness, is that it all mixes up in one bowl, and you don’t even need beaters. It’s only mildly sweet, too; much of the sweetness comes from the apples.

In fact, I came downstairs the morning after I made this and found only a corner or two remaining. My crew had evidently decided that this was good for breakfast as well, and attacked it with considered purpose. There were only a few moist crumbs left, two days later, but they were just as delicious as when I took the cake out of the oven.

This apple cake is not too sweet and goes perfectly with a hot mug of coffee or tea in the morning. Besides how easy it is to throw this together, I love that it’s so moist it’s almost like a bread pudding. I highly recommend using whole-milk yogurt here for the best flavor and texture. Also, metal cake pans bake faster than glass or ceramic pans, so check on your cake accordingly. Make sure to let it cool for one hour so that it has plenty of time to set up.

– Christine, October 2017