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Lemon Mint Yogurt Cake

Lemon and Mint Yogurt Pound Cake

This has all the lemon you can desire in one cake.  It's in the glaze, it's in the candied lemon ribbon garnish, zest and lemon syrup in the cake itself.  And if that wasn't enough, fresh mint is a lovely accessory!  A moist and tender pound cake that would make your grandma proud.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
rest and glaze 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients

Candied Lemon Ribbons

  • 3 to 4 organic lemons washed
  • 1 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup

Lemon and Mint Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped mint packed
  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup white granulated sugar start with the lemon sugar above to make up this amount
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 tsp grated lemon zest From about 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • 1 tbsp freshly chopped mint

Instructions

Candied Lemon Peel:

  1. Using a bar zester or vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemon in vertical strips, trying to leave as much of the bitter white pith behind.
  2. In a small saucepan, combine the peels with 2 cups of cold water and bring to a boil. Immediately drain, refill the pan with water, bring to a boil and drain again. Repeat this process three times to remove the bitterness from the peel. After the third dunking remove the peels from the pan and set aside. (if using ribbons created by a bar zester, you will only need to go through this process once)

  3. Measure 1 cup of the sugar into a saucepan, and add 1/2 cup of water. Set over medium-high heat, bring to a boil and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Drop in the peels, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until the peels are tender and translucent. Drain and cool the peels. Keep the syrup for pouring over the cake.

  4. Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl and add the peels. Toss with your fingers until the peels are thoroughly coated. Remove one peel at a time shaking off the excess sugar. Place on a clean plate until needed.
  5. Reserve the unused sugar (even if there are lemon bits in it) for when baking the cake- you will need a total of 3/4 cup of granulated sugar for the cake, start with this batch for measuring.
  6. Store any unused lemon peel in an airtight container. Keeps for several weeks in an airtight container.

Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. (I used a 4 x 10 in the photos) Line the pan with parchment paper, so that it overhangs the long sides by about an inch on either side. Spray with non-stick spray on all four sides.

  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the mint and toss to coat evenly with the flour.
  3. In another medium-sized bowl, whisk together the yogurt, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs and lemon zest.
  4. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

  5. With a rubber spatula, fold the olive oil into the batter, making sure it’s completely incorporated. At first it may seem to resist, but slowly keep at it, it will meld, I promise.

    Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean. The size of your pan will affect baking times. I often find I am baking this for a good 55-60 minutes.  But start checking after 45 minutes.

  6. Once out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, on a cooling rack.

  7. After 15 minutes, take a wooden skewer and poke holes randomly all over the cake. Go about 2/3's of the way in. Using a small spoon, take the remaining lemon simple syrup from the candy-ing proccess and pour slowly over the cake, allowing the syrup to flow down the holes. I use about 4 tbsp.

Glaze

  1. To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice and the milk, and mix until smooth.
  2. Remove the cake from the pan using the overhanging parchment paper. Place the cake on the cooling rack set over a wax paper or parchment lined baking sheet.
  3. Pour the glaze slowly over the cake and then garnish with the lemon ribbons and freshly chopped mint.

Recipe Notes

Save any leftover lemon simple syrup for iced tea etc!

Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake inspired by A Cozy Kitchen

Candied Lemon Peel instructions adapted from The Splendid Table