This 4-ingredient Yogurt Cake recipe is a dairy-free, egg-free moist vanilla cake inspired by the classic French yogurt pot recipe. It’s the easiest cake you will ever make, perfect to whip a dessert in no time.
As a kid, the first cake recipe I learned to make was a “gâteau yaourt,” which means, in French, yogurt cake. In this French recipe, all the ingredients were measured from a simple yogurt pot. I created this vegan yogurt cake inspired by this childhood cake recipe, except I used US measuring cups for precision.
The cake is super easy to make in less than 10 minutes, and its batter is moist and sweet, just like my 2-Ingredient No-Bake Chocolate Cake, Vegan Apple Cake, or Vanilla Wacky Cake. The flavor of the cake comes from the choice of yogurt. I like to bake with vanilla cashew yogurt. It adds a lovely vanilla flavor to the crumb. Using lemon yogurt or strawberry yogurt will create a range of yogurt cake flavors using the same recipe.
If you like more French recipes, try my Vegan Almond Croissant Pastry or Almond Croissant Cookies.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Self-Rising Flour is the basic ingredient I love to use to bake cakes quickly. You can swap it for all-purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of flour. I didn’t try all-purpose gluten-free flour in this recipe, so I can’t guarantee the outcome.
- Vanilla Plant-Based Greek Yogurt – I baked the cake with vanilla cashew yogurt or coconut Greek-style yogurt. Any kind of yogurt works in this recipe. You can use any yogurt flavor to flavor the cake. To cut down on calories and added sugar, you can use plain yogurt, but you will need vanilla extract to flavor the cake.
- Sugar – I am using caster sugar, but any granulated sweetener like coconut sugar works.
- Vegetable Oil of Choice – I recommend a light flavor oil to avoid adding an overpowering flavor to the cake crumb. I used avocado oil or light canola oil. You can also use melted plant-based butter.
Flavor Boosters
The cake is not flavorsome without adding any extract. Here are some of my recommendations.
- Vanilla Yogurt Cake – Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and use vanilla Greek yogurt. This is optional, but recommended if your yogurt doesn’t have a strong vanilla taste, or you want to boost the vanilla flavors of the cake.
- Lemon Yogurt Cake – Use lemon yogurt, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons of lemon zest.
- Yogurt Berry Cake – Fold in 1/2 cup of fresh berries in the batter like raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries.
- Coconut Yogurt Cake – Use coconut yogurt, and fold in 1/4 cup of desiccated coconut in the batter.
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 6-inch round cake pan or 6-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper with cooking oil spray.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk yogurt, oil, and sugar. Stir to combine. If you are using unflavored yogurt, you can up the sugar from 2/3 cup to 3/4 cup for a sweeter cake. Also add the vanilla extract now, if your yogurt is unflavored.
- Fold the self-rising flour in the yogurt mixture. Use a rubber spatula to incorporate. The batter should be quite thick.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let it cool down at room temperature for one hour on a cooling rack before serving.
Serving
I like dusting powdered sugar on top of the cake. But, feel free to first the cake if you prefer using some of my favorite dairy-free frosting recipes below.
- Vegan Vanilla Frosting
- Coconut Frosting
- Cashew Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Frosting
- Vegan whipped cream
Frequently Asked Questions
You can bake it with any kind of yogurt. I tried the most common dairy-free yogurt: cashew, oat, and coconut, and they all deliver great texture. The best is to choose a vanilla-flavored yogurt if you don’t have vanilla extract at home, so the cake has some flavor.
The cake won’t work with almond or coconut flour. It might work with self-rising gluten-free flour, but I can’t guarantee it because I haven’t tried it yet.
Use a high-protein yogurt like vanilla soy yogurt.
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Yogurt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Self-Rising Flour - (note 1)
- 1 cup Vanilla Plant-Based Yogurt - (note 2)
- ⅔ cup Sugar - (note 3)
- ⅓ cup Avocado Oil - or canola oil
Optional – recommended for flavor
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract - or 1 teaspoon of almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 6-inch or 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Oil sides and bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk vanilla yogurt, oil, and sugar. If your yogurt is unflavored, or your yogurt has a light vanilla flavor, stir in some vanilla extract.
- Fold in flour and stir to incorporate until the batter is thick and smooth.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake at 350°F (180°C) for 45-50 minutes for a 6-inch pan or 35-40 minutes for an 8-inch pan. Check if the cake is ready by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's ready to remove from the oven. If not, bake longer, in 10-minute increments, until the crumb is set.
- Cool down on a cooling rack before at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.
Easy, fast and delicious. I used the zest and juice of lemons from my tree along with Zoi Lemon yogurt. I doubled the ingredients. Used a rectangular Pyrex glass baking dish and greased sides with butter. Husband loves it. Thank you for this eggless recipe! I am excited to try various flavor combos in the future.
Thank you!
I used this recipe and used gluten free – cassava cake flour. We added more baking powder to the flour and the cake was just perfect!!! I baked it for a little while longer but it turned out great.
Thanks for reporting back on a gluten-free option!
Used GF flour by necessity… it was a gummy puck… trimmmed off the crispy edges and tossed the rest… taste was great…. Will try again and add baking powder…. Stay tuned!!
I recommend you only use gluten-free flour for my recipe calling for gluten-free flour. For this cake, I added 3 warnings that gluten-free flour is not recommended and it’s because I suspected the outcome you described. I don’t like when you waste ingredients, I will always add a note if gluten-free flour is a good fit and I tested it. Also, if you really want to experiment, when you swap 1 cup of self-rising flour for all-purpose gluten-free flour, you must add 2 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder as self-rising flour already contains the raising agent that makes the cake fluffy.
Hi
This cake is so good! Does it need to be refrigerated or can we leave it out?
Thank you, I am glad you like it. I did store this cake up to 3 days at room temperature in a sealed cake box without any problem. I always tell people to store in the fridge, simply because it’s the safest way to preserve food ,especially if it’s hot where you live.
Could I add in a little cocoa powder?
I am not sure, it will dry out the batter consequently as cocoa powder i s high in fiber and highly liquid absorbent. Instead, try my chocolate yogurt cake recipe, it has been developed with the perfect ratio of each ingredient to deliver a moist chocolate cake using yogurt too.
Hi love your recipes because eggless. I’m vegetarian. Thànk you will try the yogurt cake in loaf pàn.Sushila love from Cape Town. South Africa
Loved this recipe. My cake didn’t get as brown but was delicious. I’ve made it twice and it’s been a hit. Great with vegan whip and some berries.
Loved it! Amazing! We have made it so many times, it is easy, delicious and with simple ingredients.
I’d like to replace the oil. I’m thinking applesauce?
I wouldn’t do that, it will be very gummy and dense without oil. Since there’s only 4-ingredient, it’s very hard to change one ingredient without impacting the texture.
Could you use honey or maple syrup in place of sugar? I would like to make this for my 1.5 year old and prefer those sweeteners. Thank you, can’t wait to make this!
I wouldn’t use a liquid sweetener, the cake won’t hold and crisp on top. But as a healthy crystal sweetener I will go for coconut sugar, demerara sugar, or simply unrefined cane sugar.