Grandma’s Lemon Yogurt Muffin cake

Late one summer when I was just a little girl, my late grandmother took me with her to the local farmer’s market. I remember that it was full of smiling people, that were picking the fresh vegetables and fruit form the rows and rows of colorful stands. There were men and women of all ages just smiling and chatting with the farmers, telling them how lovely their picks look, how great the smell of melons and watermelons are. They were parsing how big and orange the carrots were and how their soup was going to be great with the frames parsley in it. For a child it was amazing experience and I watched it all with my eyes wide open, smiled, said hello and waived to everyone who passed my grandmother and me.

But little that I know at the time that my grandmother was on mission. A were special mission to find lemons. Those fresh, ripe lemons, that smell of summer and sea side. You know, those lemons that you, when you pick them up, the start to smell right away and you know they are organic, natural and without any pesticides and chemicals in them. The lemons you can zest and eat the skin of it. How rare they are now.

After we found them and both them we went home. My grandmother had another mission, she was determent to teach me how to bake. When she couldn’t pass the love to bake cakes to my mother, she was going to pass it down to her, at the time, only granddaughter. We pored flour, and eggs and zested, juiced and whisked away. It took no more than 20 minutes for us to mix all the ingredients, preheated the oven and prepare the pan. And it took only 2 minutes, after we put the cake in to the oven, for the whole house to start smelling like lemons. I giggled while I watched the batter rising up. It was done in blink of the child’s eye. While it was baking my grandmother prepared the syrup and hot chocolate. After the cake cooled enough to eat we went to the yard, sat down under a peer tree and watched bees and bumblebees flying around flowers and trees.

My grandmother died a few years ago and this is her lemon yogurt cake, that smells like summer and sea side.

RECEPIE

Ingredients:

1. 2 ½ cups of flour
2.  ½ cup of sugar
3. ½ of sesame or flax seeds (optional)
4. 1 teaspoon of baking powder
5.  ½ teaspoon of salt
6.  3 large lemons, zested and juiced
7.  1 ¼ cups of milk
8.  1 cup of yogurt
9.  ½ cup of vegetable oil
10.  1 large egg
11.  1 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Extras:

1. Raisins
2. Raspberries
3. Cherries
4. Blueberries
5. Hazelnuts
6. Anything you want really

Lemon and Orange syrup (optional)

1. ½ cup of lemon juice
2. ½ cup of orange syrup
3. ½ cup of powder sugar

How to:

1. Preheat the oven to 190^oC or 375^oF. Prepare a square baking pan (I used (10cmx10cmx7.6cm or 3,93inx3,93inx2,99in) and put baking paper or grease and flour it.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, seeds (if using), baking powder and salt with lemon zest.
3. In a smaller bowl beat the milk, oil, egg, vanilla and yogurt.
4.  Pour the wet ingredients with into dry and beat with a spoon just until smooth
5.  Pour in to prepared pan and add Extras. (I used raisins)
6.  Bake for about 20 to 30 min, or until the toothpick just comes out clean.
7. While baking, prepare the syrup. Whisk the juices with sugar in a small saucepan and boil for about 5 min. Remove from the heat
8.  When the cake is done, poke a few holes with a toothpick and carefully drizzle the hot syrup over the cake.
9.  Let cool for at least 10 min in the pan to let the syrup absorb.
10.  Cake will keep at the room temperature for up to 5 days.