Mini Yogurt Cake 迷你酸奶小蛋糕

My age must be catching up with me ... I forgot that I bought one pack of Greek yogurt, and bought another pack again. Now I have 2kg of Greek yogurt in my fridge! Being a cost-conscious housewife, I have to make sure they are consumed before the expiry date.

The initial plan for Greek yogurt was to make a healthy cheesecake. With 2kg of Greek yogurt,  I baked different flavours of cheesecakes almost every week.  After 3 weeks, I have used up 1.5kg of yogurt. My family seemed to have had enough of my "cheat cheesecake" for now.

There is still 500g of Greek yogurt left. Maybe it's time to bake yogurt cake with Greek yogurt?

I Googled yogurt cake, and noticed a nice recipe, which uses yogurt in making the famous cottony Japanese cheesecake. It sounds really miraculous.  I knew this is the one! While baking, my daughter kept checking the oven and asked what the cake is. It smelled nice! Good things worth the wait. After almost one hour, what came out was a soft, light and  moist cake that tasted bright and tangy! It was gone really quickly! The only problem is that the cake cracked in its center, which wasn't good for photos. I guess it's the baking temperature. My oven does not have 150 degC mark, so I baked it at 160 degC instead.  Should have adjusted the oven temperature during the last 10 minutes of baking.

Yesterday, I baked again with the same recipe.  Instead of using a baking tin, I  poured the mixture into small ramekins. Baked them in water bath at 160 degC for 30 minutes, and reduced the temperature to 130 degC for another 10 minutes. The cake turned out very well. No cracks at all. I did not unmold immediately  as I plan to serve the cake in the ramekin.  It did shrink upon cooling, as expected. The taste, hmm.. so nice.. especially after chilled in the fridge. Most importantly, we eat these mini cakes without having to feel guilty at all.  It's made of  low fat Greek yogurt, remember? I told my daughter that these cakes are  "cheat Japanese cheesecake". Another cheat cake. Haha!

YOGURT CAKE ( 酸奶蛋糕 ) 材料： 原味酸奶２００克 黄油４８克（溶化） 低粉４０克 粟粉２４克 鸡蛋４个 糖７０克 盐１克 Ingredients 200g plain yogurt ( I used low fat Greek yogurt) 48g butter ( melted ) 40g cake flour (I used plain flour) 24g cornstarch 4 eggs , separated 70g sugar 1g salt

方法：

1. 黄油加热至溶化
2. 加入室温的酸奶搅拌均匀
3. 筛入低粉和粟粉，搅拌均匀
4. 加入蛋黄，搅拌
5. 蛋白分三次加入糖，打至中性发泡
6. 将打发的蛋白分三到五次加入混合料中。
7. 装模至八分满。
8. 150度，水浴法烤60分钟左右
9. 脱模，冷却后食用最佳

Directions：

1. Melt butter, and stir into yogurt at room temperature.
2. Add egg yolk , mix well.
3. Sieve over the flour mixture, whisk the batter gently till there are no lumps.
4. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar and turn to medium-high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar mixture in separate additions and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage. The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly.  
5. Add the beaten egg whites to the mixture in 3 separate additions, each time fold with a rubber spatula until just combined. 
6. Pour the batter into the lined baking tin (or thoroughly greased ramekins) till 80% full. 
7. Place on lower rack of the oven and bake in water bath at 150 degC for 60 mins ( For mini cakes, I baked at 160 degC for 30 minutes, reduced to 130 degC and continue for another 10 minutes).
8. Remove from the oven and unmould the cake immediately to prevent from shrinking (for mini cakes, I just leave it in the ramekins)
9. Leave the cake to chill in the fridge for about 2 to 3 hours, best overnight, before serving.

Recipe adapted here.