French Yogurt Cake with Mixed Berries

It's that weird season again, the one in between winter and spring but not quite either.  The weather is getting a little warmer, but the market is still full of only squash, root vegetables, and kale.

Missing summer, I decided to make a berry cake. It's based off of Chocolate and Zucchini's Gâteau au Yaourt à la Framboise. Her yogurt cake (apparently a French home cooking staple--something everyone's grandmother makes) has become famous in the food blog world, and everyone from David Lebovitz to Smitten Kitchen has come up with adaptations.

That adaptability is what makes this cake even more incredible---from lemon poppyseed to raspberry almond to chocolate (see SmittenKitchen's adaptation of David Lebovitz). My version calls for a bag of mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries) and some orange and lemon zest. 

As soon as I took it out of the oven, it smelled amazing.  I brought it over to my neighbors' house, where my family was having dinner.  The three year-old's eyes got enormous as he looked at the cake. "What is it?" he asked.  "Cake! What do you think is in it?" I responded.  He got very close to me, and in a serious whisper, "Raspberries....."

Needless to say, he loved it--and it's a cake that will please anyone and everyone!

• 1 c plain yogurt
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c canola oil
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1-2 tsp orange zest
• 1/2-1 tsp lemon zest
• a large pinch salt (maybe even 1/4 tsp)
• 1 c frozen berries (or so--however many you want to put in really)

Mix together the yogurt, brown sugar and oil in a large bowl, then add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the zest.  Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl; add this flour mixture (not all at once, but in 2-3 additions) to the wet mixture and stir until just combined. Pour half the batter into a greased cake pan (she calls for a 9" cake pan--all I had was a 10" pie pan and it worked just fine!). Layer half the berries on top of that, then add the second half of the batter topped with the second half of the berries. Bake in a 360º oven for 50-60 minutes.