Lemon Cake - A Reason To Be Cheerful

Ten reasons to be cheerful:

1. Darling husband returned home today

2. Elder daughter is nearly out of quarantine

3. The sun is shining

4. My car will be fixed by Tuesday

5. Brother will arrive from the US on Wednesday

6. School holidays start in 10 days

7. A leisurely bath is ahead of me this afternoon

8. A long chat with an old friend

9. Younger daughter is turning 10

10. I loved this lemon cake

The lemon cake was born because I had some yoghurt in the fridge that I wanted to use up. I remembered that I had seen a yoghurt cake recipe on Pioneer Woman's website, and once I realised that I had all the ingredients on hand, I had no excuse not to get baking. For those of you who have not yet discovered Pioneer Woman, off you go quick smart! There are lots and lots of wonderful blogs that I love, but Pioneer Woman is among my favourites because she is a very talented writer and photographer as well as cook. She has the ability to make me laugh out loud at the same time as dazzling me with an incredibly beautiful photo of something as spare as an egg and a chopping board. I thought this recipe was great, although I skipped the marmalade glaze as I was trying to appeal to the younger members of the tribe and they were never going to fall for something covered in marmalade. One day perhaps, but not this day. In fact they didn't like the cake (too lemony) so I gave most of it away, but it still made me happy......

Lemon Yogurt-Marmalade Cake
from The Pioneer Woman

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 heaping cup of plain, lowfat yogurt

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup Canola oil

1/2 cup prepared orange marmalade

1/4 cup yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a loaf tine. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and canola oil until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix until just combined; do not overbeat.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Remove from pan.

While cake is cooling, pour marmalade into pan. Heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Add yogurt to pan and turn off heat. Stir to combine, then pour slowly over the top of the cake, allowing icing to pool around the sides.