Genius
A Stunning Citrus Cake in One Bowl & One-ish Step
Or two bowls, if you count the extra-tangy frosting, in this sunny recipe from Yasmin Khan’s “Ripe Figs.”
Every week in Genius Recipes—often with your help!—Food52 Founding Editor and lifelong Genius-hunter Kristen Miglore is unearthing recipes that will change the way you cook.
This cake will stun you—with its sunshiny looks, the burst of citrus in every swirl and crumb, but, maybe most of all, for what it doesn’t ask of you.
There are, of course, all sorts of ways to make a great cake, but when I see “softened butter,” I’m conditioned to expect a certain rhythm. I’ll probably cream that butter with sugar until it pales and swells, I’ll blop eggs in one by one, mixing and scraping. I’ll whisk a few powders, adding them judiciously, in intervals with measured pours of liquids.
I haven’t, until now, expected this: Place all the ingredients for the cake together in a large bowl and beat.
It’s not that there’s anything particularly onerous about this creaming process. But isn’t it nice, mind-opening even, to realize we don’t always have to do it?
For this revelatory cake, we have author, broadcaster, and human rights campaigner Yasmin Khan and her most recent cookbook Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus to thank. In her work, Yasmin immerses herself in regions commonly associated with political conflict to share gripping stories of human connection; back home in London, she creates recipes based on the dishes she’s encountered during her travels.
In the case of this citrus cake, Yasmin first tasted it at the café at the Home for Co-operation. The organization is located in Nicosia, Cyprus’ divided capital city, within the Green Line that separates the Turkish north and the Greek south of the island.
“I loved the flavor so much that I immediately went to the counter and asked what was in it,” Yasmin writes in Ripe Figs. “They let me in on the secret of plain yogurt in the batter, which gives the cake a lovely soft crumb.”
The other key to this recipe is, essentially, mindfulness. “This is a really straightforward recipe—you just put everything in one bowl and mix it, but it is quite crucial to make sure that you’re not overmixing it,” Yasmin told me. “As soon as those streaks of flour are gone, that’s it.”
Both the rich yogurt and the just-enough mixing help buffer against the development of extra cake-building (but, in excess, cake-toughening) gluten.
In fact, following Yasmin’s recipe offers a window into why the creaming process has had such longevity: Adding the flour at the end helps us get that far ahead of the gluten.
Following Yasmin’s recipe also shows us we’ll be just fine either way.
| 1 | cup (225 grams) softened unsalted butter, plus more for the pans |
| 1 3/4 | cups (225 grams) all-purpose flour |
| 1 | cup (200 grams) granulated sugar |
| 4 | extra-large eggs, lightly beaten |
| 3 1/2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 3/4 | teaspoon salt |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1/4 | cup (55 grams) full-fat plain yogurt |
| 2 | tablespoons finely grated unwaxed orange zest |
| 2 | tablespoons orange juice |
| 1 | cup (225 grams) softened unsalted butter, plus more for the pans |
| 1 3/4 | cups (225 grams) all-purpose flour |
| 1 | cup (200 grams) granulated sugar |
| 4 | extra-large eggs, lightly beaten |
| 3 1/2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 3/4 | teaspoon salt |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1/4 | cup (55 grams) full-fat plain yogurt |
| 2 | tablespoons finely grated unwaxed orange zest |
| 2 | tablespoons orange juice |
| 2/3 | cup (80 grams) confectioners’ sugar |
| 12 | ounces (350 grams) full-fat cream cheese |
| 1/4 | cup (55 grams) full-fat plain yogurt |
| 1 | tablespoon orange juice |
| 2 | tablespoons lemon juice |
| Orange and unwaxed lemon, to zest for garnish |
| 2/3 | cup (80 grams) confectioners’ sugar |
| 12 | ounces (350 grams) full-fat cream cheese |
| 1/4 | cup (55 grams) full-fat plain yogurt |
| 1 | tablespoon orange juice |
| 2 | tablespoons lemon juice |
| Orange and unwaxed lemon, to zest for garnish |
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Written by: Kristen Miglore
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24 Comments
2. Read the comments before baking so you can trust and follow your baking instincts
3. Always - ALWAYS - cream your butter with the sugar no matter what they tell you.
I really wanted to love this cake but knew the moment I put everything together and mixed it, only to find major lumps in my batter, that something was amuck. Tried to watch the video again before mixing but it was no longer available:( I left my butter out overnight along with my eggs but the batter still didn't blend well, and then I did the unthinkable, over beat the batter. The cake was extremely dense and barely rose. Next Easter I will stick with my basic pound cake recipe and make my traditional lamb cake instead....lol.
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