lime yogurt cake & black raspberry sauce.

I have been having a heckuva time getting back into the blogging swing of things. Ever since Officer Thomas put that shiny rock on my finger, I can't get my mind off of all things wedding - the gowns, the invitations, the obvious lack of any one in my family to produce a girl so our youngest option for a flower girl is 18, followed by 6 little boys that continue to duke it out over who will be the ring bearer.

Baking is almost always my sweet release from the madness of every day life - but I can't even get myself to go to the grocery store after work, thinking about it just makes me irritated. Perhaps it's knowing that I have planning to do, or that I'm exhausted from lying awake at night trying to plot a way to knock people off the ever-increasing guest list, but I just feel so lackluster in the kitchen these days. I feel distracted, impatient, annoyed. Humbug.

When this cake came to be, it was a whirlwind effort. I had to beg my sister to go to the store to get limes and blackberries [she always calls as soon as she gets there and swears they are sold out of everything she needs when really she just doesn't know where anything is] so I could avoid the chilly produce aisle; then I found myself bouncing all around the kitchen trying to get all my ingredients mise en place but I flaked out and did everything out of order. It's a wonder this cake came into existence at all.

Thankfully, that same day came equipped with plenty of distraction, like a muscle flexing contest between the kid who wraps cucumbers in lunch meat and peanut butter and a Lieutenant firefighter that would do anything for the kid who wraps cucumbers in lunch meat and peanut butter. Somewhere between flexing and roasting giant s'mores and swapping wedding ideas and picking marshmallow out of my hair, we ate this cake.

I'm generally unimpressed by yogurt cakes - not by the flavor which is almost always lovely, but by the texture. I find them to be slightly rubbery with a crumb that requires an extra chew or two before it melt in your mouth. This cake isn't quite that way, although the texture is unmistakeably yogurty [coined it!]. The cake on it's own is just fine, I used bottled key lime juice and lime yogurt since I didn't have any limes for zesting laying around and spilled a purply puddle of blackberry sauce right over the top.

It's light and fruity and pretty perfect for noshing on the back porch while you trying to convince your maniac cousins to keep the flaming marshmallow away from your face. This cake is more than versatile - you can swap out the lime for orange or lemon; the berries for strawberries or schnozzberries. I had extra sauce left over that I very much intend on spooning over lemon ice cream later this week. You should probably do the same.

Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Cake

1 cup whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Sauce

12 ounces fresh blackberries
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined - it will be slightly lumpy.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. Flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Make sauce: Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. Purée until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.