Low-fat Lemon Yogurt Cake

For my California Mother's Day (for Tyler’s mother) the entire family gathered at his parent’s house for a bagel & lox brunch! (one of my favorite things)

Although I was told not to bring anything, I planned on doing so anyway : )

Since summer is in the air, and everyone always has a tendency to say they are trying to be a bit healthier this time of year, I thought I’d make something a bit lighter than say a coffee cake.  Something light, fresh, and fruity!

I remembered my friend Heith sent me an email a while back regarding an episode of the Ina Garten cooking show he watched. He said the cake looked magnificent on the episode and that she served it with a blueberry reduction sauce. 
Knowing that everything Ina Garten makes on her show is exquisite, and the fact that it was a cake made with lemon’s and yogurt...I thought I would revisit the email he sent me with the recipe.

As I stated that I wanted to keep it on the lighter side, since I’d be serving it along with the bagels, I decided to adjust her recipe a bit and make it low-fat!

Low-Fat Lemon Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Lemon Yogurt Cake
Makes one 8 by 4 inch loaf cake

The texture of this cake is somewhat dense like a pound cake, but also super moist. Also, the original recipe calls for ½ cup of vegetable oil. I ended up using a little less, about ⅓ cup, and the cake came out just fine. Feel free to adjust the amount of oil to your liking.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt or lemon yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 whole large egg, 3 large egg whites
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
⅓ to ½ cup vegetable oil

For the glaze:  

1 cup confectioners’ sugar 

Freshly squeezed lemon juice 

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour an 8½ by 4¼ by 2½-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.

Measure the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl and whisk until combined. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and slowly whisk together. Fold the vegetable oil into the batter until it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40-60 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. If the glaze is still too thick, continue adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice until it’s runny enough to pour.

Carefully place on the cake a baking rack over a sheet pan or a sheet of parchment paper. While the cake is still warm (but not hot!), pour the glaze over, allowing it to drip down the sides