Bessine's Gâteau au Yaourt

Despite making it so many times, I only tasted the authentic French yogurt cake once made by my mother-in-law. It was so long ago that I actually didn't remember much, except for the nice dome shape she always created for all her cakes. During one of our trips to France while staying in a B&B, I tasted again le gâteau au yaourt véritable. Initially I couldn't figure which recipe it was because the cake was so tender and the crumb so fine. It was perfumed with just a smidgen of vanilla but the flavor was incroyable. The cake just reminds me what it means to have good quality of eggs, butter and flour and nothing else. Pure pleasure. This cake tasted buttery, light and every bite just bringing a satisfying smile to me. I was totally under its spell. I asked the B&B owner at the end of our breakfast and he told me it's gâteau au yaourt. I told him how much I liked the cake and I could see that he made the cake every mornings for the remaining of our stay. How very sweet.

Needless to say, I have been wanting to recreate the gâteau au yaourt since I came back. As much as I like my tried-and-tested yogurt cake recipe, the texture is different. It tastes buttery without the heaviness of butter. Also, I noticed that despite being a household cake/recipe, the ratio of yogurt, flour and eggs does vary from recipe to recipe. The recipe can be proper cake-like to more muffin type (flour heavy). As with any family recipe, everyone has a preferred taste. No doubt that they all make lovely gâteau au yaourt, but I am looking for my Gâteau au yaourt de Bessine. 

The recipe below produces a nice and light cake, good for breakfast and for dessert. Is it close to what I was looking for? Not exactly but 80% close. Perhaps my memory was playing a trick with me, but this cake will not.

Le gâteau au yaourt de Bessine

3 medium eggs
1/2 cup sugar (2 tablespoons more if for dessert)
60ml sunflower oil
pinch of salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup gluten-free flour
1/4 cup ground almond (or use flour instead)
2 tsp baking powder
zest from 1 lemon or orange
Optional: lemon syrup (1 tbsp lemon juice + 2 tbsp sugar) to brush the baked cake top

Preheat the oven at 180C. Grease and line a cake tin.

In a bowl mix eggs, sugar and salt with a whisk for 3 minutes. Stir in oil and yogurt. Mix again.

Sift in flour, ground almond, baking powder and citrus zest into the egg mixture. Stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake the cake at 180C for 30 minutes. When the cake passes the toothpick test, remove it out of the oven and brush the top of the cake with lemon syrup, if desired (like the top picture).

Variation 1: orange and walnuts
Variation 2: lemon and poppy seeds
Variation 3: apples and cinnamon