French "1-2-3" Cake Is So Easy, You Don't Even Need a Recipe
I’ve developed a lot of recipes for complicated baking projects over the years, but in my personal time I tend to gravitate toward simple sweet treats. I adore a recipe that comes together in one bowl, uses no special equipment, and generally requires very little careful planning. While I absolutely love a double crust pie or a Basque cheesecake, those aren’t projects I’m likely to dive into on a casual weeknight.
A “recipe” I keep in my back pocket for when I’m in the mood for a sweet dessert — but not a project — is a French classic called gâteau au yaourt, which means “yogurt cake.” It’s also known as “1-2-3 cake” because of the ratio of flour, sugar, and oil, the main ingredients. The final cake is sweet and dense, and reminds me of pound cake (the historical version of which similarly consisted of a very simple ingredient ratio — 1 pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs), but with a hint of tang from the yogurt. Its simple flavor profile makes it a great base for accompaniments like berries, whipped cream, or a dollop of yogurt. It’s a great thing to whip up when you want to feel like the kind of baker who “just whips things up.”
How to Make Gâteau au Yaourt
The neat thing about this cake is that unlike a lot of baking recipes that are (necessarily) very specific about ingredient amounts — often relying on weights for maximum accuracy — here the main ingredients are based on a ratio. In France plain yogurt has been sold in individual glass containers for over 100 years. This cake uses the yogurt container as the volume measurement for its main ingredients.
When I make it, I start with an individual container (about 5 ounces) of plain yogurt (though vanilla yogurt would be good, too). I then use the yogurt container to measure out 1 container’s worth of vegetable oil, 2 container’s worth of sugar, and 3 container’s worth of all-purpose flour. To this I add 3 eggs, a pinch of salt, and 2 teaspoons of baking powder. After whisking everything together until a batter forms, I transfer it to a greased loaf pan and bake at 325°F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 90 minutes. You can bake it in a different-size baking pan, but timing will vary so keep a close eye on it.
Tips for Making Gâteau au Yaourt
Get creative. You can play around and add citrus zest or a bit of vanilla extract to the batter if you like. I wouldn’t recommend adding any stir-ins, though, since they could affect the consistency of the batter and its bake time.
Commit a couple of things to memory. This recipe is flexible and pretty forgiving, especially for a cake, but you do have to remember some things. The most important is the 1-2-3 ingredient ratio, but equally important is the leavener. Without the right amount of the right leavener, the cake won’t rise properly, so it’s worth committing “2 teaspoons baking powder” to memory as well.
Further Reading
We Asked 3 Chefs to Name the Best Ice Cream, and They All Said the Same Thing
The “Beautiful” $3 Flower Tumblers at Walmart People Are Buying 2 at a Time
The One Cookware Brand That Gordon Ramsay Can’t Stop Talking About
