Blood Orange Yogurt Cake

I've been doing a lot of baking lately, which means I've been going through a lot of butter, sugar and eggs. While it's been producing some really tasty results, it seemed about time to lighten things up.

Yogurt cake is a great way to have a rich dessert without too much fat or sugar. The version I made here was actually for a breakfast party in my health class. Recipes frequently call for a dollop of whipped cream on top, that seems to defeat the purpose of a healthy cake to me. I served mine with a quick fruit salsa so people could see what the blood oranges looked like.

I adapted this recipe for Orange Yogurt Cake to use blood oranges , but either works great. I've had trouble with whole wheat flour before, but I used it in this recipe and it worked great. (I recommend Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour). Cutting the whole wheat flour with white flour helps keep the cake light, but I might try it next time with all whole wheat flour.

Pictures are once again by Mr. Dominic Luongo, well except for the last one which was taken while serving it in class. Unfortunately we'll be back to bad cellphone pictures after this.

Blood Orange Cake

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
juice of one blood orange
zest of about 1 1/2 blood oranges
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 9 inch round pan with parchment and spray with nonstick spray (it would probably be fine to skip the parchment).

Zest the blood oranges.

Juice one blood orange.

Whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, zest, vanilla extract, and juice.

In another bowl, mix together both flours, baking powder, and salt in one bowl.

Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to incorporate the vegetable oil.

Pour the batter into the round pan.

Bake about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool and then serve slices with a dollop of whipped cream or fruit salsa (or both).

Fruit Salsa
the juice and zest of one lime
1-2 tablespoons honey
2 blood oranges, peeled and diced
1 can of pear in juice, drained and diced

Mix together zest, juice and honey in a bowl, add blood oranges and pears, toss to coat.