Sweet Lime Yogurt Cake

I have a toddler whose favourite phrase is "i don't want food", translated into the vernacular, of course. His entire diet consists of milk and three different semi-solid foods which he eats day in and day out, with no change in the menu. When people wonder why the mom who dabbles in a food blog cannot get her kid to try a sliver of anything new, without said toddler throwing up his entire last meal; the irony is not lost on me either. As realization keeps creeping in on how unnatural it is for my 2 and 1/2 year old to have never eaten cake, or chocolate, or ice cream (or almost every other food that toddlers take for granted) in his whole life, my enthusiasm for new foods keeps ebbing away. 
But then, in life, new doors open from unexpected quarters. My sister's son turned a year old last week, and thankfully, he was a normal kid not averse to trying out new foods. It was the perfect opportunity to wake up the hibernating baker inside me. So i plunged into the opportunity with much abandon. It felt great to get back into action and accomplish a little something. And the best evidence of the cake's success came when it was polished off by the little one's parents and grandparents within minutes after the birthday boy had his first taste. Delighted me!

I took a simple lime yogurt cake and replaced the lime juice and jest with sweet lime (called mosambi in Hindi and bathayi in Telugu). This fruit came straight out of my parents backyard and turned out to be so fresh and organic that i could not imagine anything else for the little fellow who had endured twelve whole months in this big bad world. The cake has only a hint of tang, and tastes light and fresh in the mouth. I used store bought chocolate frosting to do the decorations on top. My best work so far, which is not saying much, i know. Nevertheless, a good start, don't you think?

And hey! i also made a Strawberry cheesecake on the lines of this mango cheesecake. Let's see if it gets to visit this blog as well.

Recipe Source: Adapted from here

Prep time: 15 minutes

Bake time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup plain yogurt (i used home made Indian yogurt/curd)

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 cup sugar
zest of one sweet lime
1/3 cup lime juice (i used the juice of one whole sweet lime, almost 100 ml)
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with oil and dust it with flour. Tap out the excess flour. 
2. Line the bottom with parchment paper if the pan is not spring form.The cake tends to stick to the bottom.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and sweet lime zest. Add the yogurt and whisk until smooth. Mix in the oil and sweet lime juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. 
4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over your yogurt batter. Whisk it in until just combined and no lumps.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
6. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. Flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

La's Notes:

• I forgot to line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper when i made it for the blog in the above pics, and part of the cake stuck to the bottom when trying to flip it out. Not that licking it out of the pan made it any less delicious. Just saying, if you don't think that's lady like; don't forget the parchment paper lining.
• I have lined glass baking pans with aluminum foil for baking cakes, with good and clean results (i mean less clean up afterwards)
• Some of you might have noticed in the pics that i don't always follow the directions rigidly. I add both the eggs at once, without whisking after each addition. I throw the flour into the mixing bowl from a measuring cup instead of sifting it in. Cake's still real good.
• I have baked the same batter into cupcakes with baking time around 20 minutes.