Back in March, Jane of the Spain Daily blog, shared a recipe for the delicious looking yogurt cake in one of her posts.  She serves it as a companion to her coffee.  Yum.  It seemed like such an easy thing to whip up.  And, since we had never had a yogurt cake, I was curious as to what the taste and texture would be like.

Months passed; our family went to Vermont for a couple of weeks.  The City, steamy, awaited us with its very warm embrace.  Yesterday, while the kids were having special Aunt Sheri Time, I walked over to Battery Park City to sit in one of the gardens by the water.  The sun was beating down, something I was loving after shivering through my last week in Vermont, and I was thinking how happy it made me to be back here with its crazy pace and terrible smells.

The bankers were milling around, always urgent to get back upstairs and back on the desk.  The moms, and grannies, and nannies strolled by with smiling or whining or sleeping or crying babies.  And, there, in the garden, all of this soothed my mind.  These are the sights and sounds of home.

Into a quiet mind popped Jane’s yogurt cake recipe.  There was a pint of raspberries in our fridge, and I was thinking what to do with them (besides tear into them and devour them in their raw glory).

Back at home, we mixed together the ingredients, including the fragrant, beautiful raspberries, and made Jane’s yogurt cake, with a few minor changes.  I have translated her recipe and changed just a few things to suit the raspberries being involved.  The result is a simple, lovely cake.  If you were of the mind, you could frost the tops with this frosting (use raspberry puree instead of strawberry) or make a simple glaze with powdered sugar and milk.  We simply popped a berry on top and served the cakes alongside a tiny scoop of ice cream.

Thank you, Jane, for the recipe and all the laughs you have given me over the past two years.  I hope that the mini-chefs and I did you proud!  You can find the original recipe and post here.

Spain Jane’s Raspberry Yogurt Cakes

• 1 1/2 c. (6 oz.) plain yogurt, room temperature
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/3 c. raspberries (fresh or frozen and thawed)
• 3 c. flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• pinch of salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees C.
2. Prepare two muffins tins by papering them or greasing them with a little oil.
3. In a large bowl, have your mini-chef stir together all of the wet ingredients: yogurt, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and raspberries.  It is fun to mash the raspberries on the side of the bowl a bit with a wooden spoon.  It make the batter pink and releases stress.
4. In a separate, medium bowl, let your mini-chef whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
5. Slowly and gently pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir till completely combined.
6. Using an ice cream scoop or a big spoon, fill each muffin cup with some of the batter.
7. Big Person: bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes or until the side and tops begin to turn golden.  Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before frosting.