{twd} french yogurt cakelets

When Dorie Greenspan writes in a recipe’s introduction that this is something the French frequently make in their home kitchens, you know the dessert will be a breeze to make. Apparently the French don’t do complicated at home, Why would they need to when there is an amazing pâtisserie on every block?

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie selection was the French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze. And yes it was a breeze to make. For one thing, there is no butter and therefore no need to wait for it to come to room temperature. For another, there is no beating things until they hold firm peaks or are creamy.

I don’t know if it was because it was too easy or I’m just used to complicated, but I decided to up the complication level. I made the full-recipe cake as directed–using Fage Total Yogurt because it’s the type of yogurt I prefer to eat–, added a bit of lemon oil to up the lemon flavor, and baked it in a 9″ round pan as suggested in a Playing Around suggestion. The cake baked up perfectly and beautiful.

I glazed the cake using lemon-pear marmalade because I couldn’t find plain lemon marmalade. I then split the cake in half to create two layers and used a biscuit cutter to create layers for cakelets.

I layered some of the cakelets with a Crushed Strawberry Sauce I made based off a recipe from the April 2009 issue of bon appétit. Some of the cakelets were layered with Dorie’s Lemon Curd I made specifically for this recipe.  The final group of cakelets were layered with almond pastry filling and chocolate shavings, left over from another pastry I made this weekend.

I topped all cakelets with a dollap of whipped cream. For the almond ones, I sprinkled the tops with more chocolate shavings and sliced almonds. I topped the lemon cakelets with candied lemon slices leftover from last week’s TWD and the strawberry cakelets were topped with more crushed strawberry sauce.

The cakelets were out-of-this-world delicious. The cake was very moist and full of flavor. My favorite was the strawberry cakelet. Thank you to Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction for choosing the French Yogurt Cake. Please visit her blog for the recipe.

Crushed Strawberry Sauce

Adapted from bon appétit, April 2009

Note: The original recipe is for blueberries.

• 14 ounces fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
• Pinch of salt

1. Combine half of the strawberries (7 ounces) and the rest of the ingredients in a heavy-bottom sauce pan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to simmer. Reduce heat and simmer until strawberries are very soft and liquid is syrupy, approximately 7 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and add remaining strawberries, lightly pressing the fresh strawberries on the side of the pan until they are lightly crushed.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.