Gluten Free French Yogurt Cake (Cooking With Kids)

According to the calendar hanging in my kitchen, the first day of spring has come and gone. I know that spring will be coming soon, but for my children soon is just not soon enough. We did our best as parents to keep them as busy as possible during the long, cold, dark winter months. We made sure their weekends were full of activities. From swimming to ballet with plenty of play dates sprinkled in between.

For our family, we are ready for something new. And the "new" is being derailed by the weather. Here in the northeast, we promptly swapped the snow for rain. As soon as we started tuning up our bikes and dusting off our helmets…the rain started to fall and fall, and fall.

We are very patiently waiting to go on bike rides, and start our vegetable garden. Our heads are filled with long walks on the beach and nature hikes through the woods. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the bad weather will end so we can make spending time outdoors our top priority!

For now I will just have to do my best to convince my kids that spring really is coming. I have been pointing out each and every little sign of spring the world has to show. The patches of crocus popping up around the yard. The robins gobbling up the worms that are emerging from the slowly softening ground. The sun that is not setting until we are snuggled in and reading books together in bed.

As much as we would like to, we can't rush Mother Nature. This weekend we were faced with more rain and fog filled days. I could feel the weather starting to take it's toll on the kids. They seemed a little sad and a little more tired than usual. I figured the best way to cheer us all up would be cake. A nice, yummy, spring inspired cake.

As I pulled out the measuring cups and spoons, I announced it was time to bake some cake. Their spirits immediately lifted, as did mine. We spent the rest of the gloomy afternoon baking and enjoying the warmth of the kitchen. Hopefully spring is around the corner, but if it isn't I think we'll just bake more cake!

GLUTEN FREE FRENCH YOGURT CAKE – PAMELA'S PRODUCTS

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups Artisan Flour Blend
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 TBSP grated lemon or orange zest
3/4 cup whole milk Fage Greek yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or another fat of your choice, such as melted butter or coconut oil)
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°. Spray the loaf pan with oil.

Step 2: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and orange zest until the sugar is moist.

Step 3: Add yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla and mix well. Fold in dry ingredients to just blend.

Step 4: Pour batter into loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake in center of oven until tester comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Step 5: Sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Thanks for reading!

Daniele