This favorite lemon yogurt cake is a pound cake with a moist crumb that’s fragrant with citrus lemon zest. It’s so delicious and easy to bake, you’ll be making it over and over! Perfect for breakfast, a light dessert, or an anytime snack! This is gluten-free and can be easily made dairy-free too.
Celebrating Life
2020 has probably been one of the hardest years most of us have ever been through – and because of that, I am now a strong advocate of celebrating small wins and tiny moments, no matter how insignificant they may seem to be.
I believe life should be celebrated, and every extra year we get is a reason to throw a party to be enjoyed in the company of loved ones. In a chat with Aunty Adeline a long time ago in which we spoke of Aunty Catherine’s passing, I came to realize that no single day should be taken for granted; and that every moment we have on earth is precious (both to us and to those who love us).
An Easy Yogurt Cake Recipe
Here’s a simple cake to celebrate those small but happy moments. It’s a delicate French-inspired lemon pound cake with a moist crumb and fragrant with citrus lemon zest, adapted from Beeta’s recipe over at Mon Petit Four.
This recipe is both a big favorite both at home and here on the blog, and literally everyone who has tried it always tells me how much they love it.
Why This Recipe Works
As you can tell from the name of this recipe, yogurt is an essential part of this lemon pound cake – and is the reason why it’s light and smooth and has an almost creamy-like texture. The lemon zest brightens up the cake with it’s citrus flavor and makes this cake sing.
Plus, it’s so darn easy to make, and you probably already have all the ingredients in your kitchen! If you want to make this recipe completely dairy-free, that’s totally possible as well (check out my recipe notes below for ingredient substitutions).
Ingredients Needed + Notes/Substitutions:
- Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: To make this gluten-free lemon pound cake, I prefer using a gluten-free all-purpose flour that is made up of lighter flours and starches (such as rice flour and corn starch/tapioca starch) as it will result in a lighter texture. I do NOT recommend using blends that have heavier flours such as garbanzo bean flours as this will result in a denser and heavier texture.
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Sugar: If you are diabetic or insulin-resistant, I highly recommend using Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener (which is a 1:1 sugar replacement and has zero glycemic index).
- Lemon Zest: If you don’t have fresh lemons on hand, feel free to use fresh orange zest or grapefruit zest instead.
- Eggs
- Greek Yogurt: If you are lactose-intolerant, you can swap out the Greek yogurt for coconut yogurt or other non-dairy yogurt. Just make sure not to include the whey to prevent the batter from being to wet.
- Vanilla Extract
- Butter: If you are lactose-intolerant, feel free to substitute the butter for equal quantities of refined coconut oil (I prefer refined coconut oil for its neutral taste, as compared to extra virgin coconut oil which has a very strong coconut taste).
Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Preheat and Line
Pre-heat oven to 350F (175C). Grease and line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
2. Prepare the Batter
In a large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest together, then use your fingers to rub the sugar and zest until sugar is moist and fragrant. Add eggs in and whisk until pale and frothy, and then add the yogurt and vanilla vanilla extract and mix well. Sift in gluten-free all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt and then whisk well until combined, and finally, fold in the melted butter into the batter with a spatula until the batter is glossy.
3. Bake
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
4. Cool and Slice
Allow the lemon pound cake to cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.
Expert Tips/Tricks:
Change the Shape: I used a 9×5 inch loaf pan for this lemon pound cake recipe, but you can use a 6-inch round cake pan instead.
Make Muffins: You can use the same batter to make lemon muffins. Simply divide the batter evenly between the cavities of a standard muffin tin, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
Recipe FAQs:
If not eating the cake immediately, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Yes of course you can freeze this! Simply wrap the lemon pound cake tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Before eating, let frozen cake thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then bring to room temperature.
Yes of course! As mentioned in the ingredient notes above as well as in the recipe notes below, you can make this gluten-free lemon yogurt cake totally dairy-free too by substituting the Greek yogurt with coconut yogurt, and using coconut oil instead of butter.
Other Cake Recipes You’ll Love:
- Blood Orange Yogurt Cake (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
- Lemon Cornmeal Cake (Gluten-Free)
- Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Bread (Dairy-Free)
- Chocolate Coconut Cake (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
- Gluten-Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Desserts to Enjoy:
P.S. If you try this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating below, and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to check out my entire Recipe Index for all the recipes on the blog. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram! Sign up for my Email List to get fresh recipes in your inbox each week!
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Easy Lemon Yogurt Cake (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 medium loaf 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This lemon yogurt cake is a pound cake with a moist crumb, and is so fragrant with citrus lemon zest. It’s so delicious and easy to bake, you’ll be making it over and over! Perfect for breakfast, a light dessert or an anytime snack! This is gluten-free and can be easily made dairy-free too.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat and Line: Pre-heat oven to 350F (175C). Grease and line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper
- Rub: In a large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest together, then use your fingers to rub the sugar and zest until sugar is moist and fragrant
- Whisk Eggs: Add eggs in and whisk until pale and frothy
- Mix: Add yogurt and vanilla vanilla extract and mix well
- Add Dry Ingredients: Sift in gluten-free all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt and then whisk well until combined
- Fold: Use a spatula to fold in the melted butter into the batter until batter is glossy
- Bake: Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean
- Cool and Slice: Allow cake to cool before removing from pan and slicing
Notes
Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: I prefer using a gluten-free all-purpose flour that is made up of lighter flours and starches (such as rice flour and corn starch/tapioca starch) as it will result in a lighter texture. I do NOT recommend using blends that use heavier flours such as garbanzo bean flours as this will result in a denser and thicker texture.
Sugar: If you are diabetic or insulin-resistant, I highly recommend using Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener (which is a 1:1 sugar replacement and has zero glycemic index).
Lemon Zest: If you don’t have fresh lemons on hand, feel free to use fresh orange zest or grapefruit zest instead.
Yogurt: If you are lactose-intolerant, you can swap out the Greek yogurt for coconut yogurt or other non-dairy yogurt. Just make sure not to include the whey to prevent the batter from being to wet.
Butter: If you are lactose-intolerant, feel free to substitute the butter for equal quantities of refined coconut oil.
Storing and Freezing: If not eating the cake immediately, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To freeze, wrap the lemon pound cake in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Before eating, let frozen cake thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then bring to room temperature.
Barely adapted from: Mon Petit Four
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Keywords: lemon yogurt cake
I don’t usually bake but it was so hot outside today I thought I’d try this. It was so good and so easy! I’m definitely saving this recipe. I threw in a handful of black currants and they paired well with the lemon. Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Katie!
So happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe (at least turning on the oven was worth it during the summer heat)!! Love the combination of black currants and lemon, thanks for the suggestion and the great feedback! Have a great week and hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
xx,
Felicia
Made this for the first time today. My husband is newly gluten-free, and has always been dairy-free, so this recipe with suggested substitutions was perfect. I used a coconut milk yogurt and grapeseed oil (didn’t have the coconut oil in my pantry), and King Arthur Flour’s All-purpose Gluten-free flour. It was amazing! You really can’t tell that it’s gluten and dairy free. So good! Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Beth! YAY!! So happy your husband can enjoy this cake being newly GF! Thanks so much for letting me know how it went with the substituteions – it makes my day to hear that! Happy weekend dear, and hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
Hello from New Zealand! I’ve just made this lemon loaf using coconut yoghurt and it is DELICIOUS!! It’s a really hot day here and I wasn’t going to bake, but needed something for my sons lunchbox tomorrow. Well, it was worth getting sweaty in the kitchen for-I just hope there’s some left for tomorrow!!! Thankyou for the recipe, it’ll be on repeat in our house . ?
★★★★★
Hi Julie!! I’m so happy you loved the lemon yogurt cake (at least it was worth heating up the oven on a summer’s day for!). Fingers crossed you still have some leftover for your son’s lunchbox! 😉 thanks for dropping by, and hope to see you around the blog again soon!
I spent quite a long time looking for a recipe to use up the plain yogurt my boyfriend bought (bleh). This was the only one that fit the bill and came out delicious!
I did have to substitute some things because I didn’t have them on hand:
Margarine instead of butter.
Lemon artificial instead of lemon zest, I eyeballed this. I’m sure it would taste so much better but we haven’t been going to the store much because of COVID. 🙁
For the yogurt I used plain Astro Balkan style yogurt 3%.
BTW I did use a flour with garbanzo beans, potato, etc. It’s the Bulk Barn gluten free flour. It was all I had and still came out OK!
Thanks for the lovely recipe 🙂
★★★★★
Hi Marie! You just made my Sunday!! So happy that you were able to use up the plain yogurt and that your substitutions worked out perfect! Thank you so much for stopping by and letting me know! Enjoy the rest of your weekend dear! xx, F.
Hello Felicia,
This has been one of my favorite cake because of its most refreshing lemon flavor and it is always so yummy that I can eat it any time of the day .
Thank you for revisiting this recipe and modifying it with additional great and relevant information which I greatly appreciate.
Love and blessings always!
Mum
★★★★★
Hi mummy, I love this cake too – so easy to make and so delicious! Glad the additional information makes it useful 🙂 Love you too!
I made this recipe today but substituted the cup of sugar with a cup of Lakanto Sweetener (with monkfruit) as my husband is diabetic as well as celiac. It worked out so well and is very delicious. I will be making it again I’m sure.
★★★★★
Hi Roxanne! You made me so happy with your comment! So glad that you love this cake – it’s one of our favorite recipes too! 🙂 Best of all you can also use orange zest or grapefruit zest in place of lemon zest for different variations! 🙂 Have a great Sunday and a good start to the week! Hope to see you around the blog again soon! XX, Felicia
Hey Felicia, I just found your beautiful blog and this yoghurt cake looks so delicious! I am definitely going to bake it tomorrow. I was just wondering if you are using any specific brand of gluten free all purpose flour in this recipe? Since having to go gluten free I have acquired quite a lot of different mixes as I find the ingredients in the mixes vary quite a bit and the baked result often depends on the mixed used.
Hi Carla!
Thank you so much for dropping by 🙂 So happy to have you here! I totally understand what you mean about how GF flour mixes change a bit, but given that I’m based in Argentina and I’ve used different mixes with similar results, I don’t think it should be a problem since this only calls for 1.5 cups of flour (not as much as say a recipe that calls for 4 cups).
If you’re based in the US, I can recommend the Cup4Cup flour, but I’m guessing you’re from the UK? (just based on the way you spell “yoghurt”?) Not sure which GF mix brands are good in the UK, but i’m assuming the one you usually use should work fine!
Please let me know what you decide to use in the end, and how it goes! Happy weekend dear!
Thank you so much for getting back to me! I am from Germany but I lived in The UK for 5 years, so I guess that might have rubbed off on me a little bit 😉
Based on the ingredients of the cup4cup flour I think I will try this recipe with an Italian flour mix I have. I will report back how it worked!
Happy weekend to you too and thank you so much for developing so many beautiful recipes
You’re most welcome!! Thank you for your sweet words! And hopefully the Italian flour mix works 🙂 Excited to hear how the lemon yogurt cake comes out!
Thanks for the recipe, I’m going to try it tomorrow. Do you know if I only have almond flour / brown rice flour and I want to add flax seed meal to help bind, how much I need to add to account for the all purpose gf flour?
Hi Casey! Do you happen to have tapioca starch/arrowroot starch on hand? I think it might make a better combination with the almond flour.
Since the recipe calls for 1.5 cups of all purpose GF flour, I would say you can use 1 cup almond flour with 1/2 cup tapioca starch/arrowroot starch. But if you don’t have those starches, I guess you could try 1 cup almond flour 1/4 cup brown rice flour with 1/4 cup flaxseed meal.
Would love to hear how it goes in the end! Let me know 🙂 Have a great week!
Hi again Felicia! Haven’t gotten around to trying this out yet or going to the store to get the proper ingredients! I do have arrowroot on hand but thought it was more commonly used to thicken sauces vs. a replacement for cornstarch etc. You think it is okay to mix with dairy for baking a cake? Thank you!
Forgot to mention I actually only have brown rice and white rice flour on hand, not almond. Not sure how that impacts. Thanks again!
Hi Casey! That’s fine! I’d used 1 cup brown rice flour and 1/2 cup arrowroot starch to give it binding power. I haven’t personally tried baking this recipe with just brown rice flour and arrowroot, but I believe it shouldn’t be an issue. Would love to hear how it goes later, thanks and happy weekend!
Really delicious. I baked it in a 10 X 4 1/2 pan and it took about 35 min. to cook. Will be making it again and again.
★★★★★
Hi Diane!! Am so happy to hear that! Best thing about this recipe is that it’s so versatile and you can make it with blood oranges, normal oranges, and even grapefruit too in place of lemons!
Dear Felicia,
Thanks for your very positive attitude towards life.
Indeed, age is just a number. What really matters is how we have lived the life God has given to us, have we fulfilled the purpose He has for us and more importantly, have our lives been pleasing to God at all times?
Only God knows best and therefore it is wise to surrender our days into the loving hand of God and let Him guide us along the path He has predestined for us.
Enjoy life and allow God to pour down His bountiful blessings upon you moment by moment from His heavenly throne.
God loves you and we all love you too!
Blessings!
Mum
★★★★★
Thanks mummy 🙂 I know God has a lot of good things in store for me! 🙂