Filled Yogurt Cake With Lemon Ouzo Syrup

love4culinary's Note:

This cake is unlike any cake you will ever try. It looks great when you cut into it, and it tastes even better. The syrup makes the cake really moist and flavorful! You can keep this cake for several days covered at room temperature! Dont let the number of steps scare you. It goes quickly. There are just a lot of steps so you understand better :) This cake is totally worth it!!!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 10

Yield: 1.0 cake

Filling

• 1/4 cup pitted dates, chopped
• 1/4 cup strawberry, chopped into bits
• 1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Cake

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (plain yogurt is fine too)
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup ouzo
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest, grated finely

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a 10 inch springform pan.
3. Combine all ingredients for the filling and set aside.
4. For the cake, combine your butter and sugar in a bowl with your mixer until thick and creamy.
5. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
6. Next mix in your yogurt and zest.
7. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, then sift the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture and beat well.
8. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
9. Whisk half of your whites into the batter, and then fold in the other half.
10. Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared springform pan making sure the batter is completely flat and even.
11. Next sprinkle the filling evenly over the batter.
12. Then pour the remaining batter over the filling.
13. Bake your cake in your preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes until it starts to pull away from the pan.
14. When it is done, take the cake out and the pan on a wire rack to cool.
15. To prepare the sauce, place all ingredients in a saucepan.
16. Turn burner to high heat and bring mixture to a boil.
17. Once it comes to a boil, reduce your heat and simmer until it has become thicker, approximately 10 minutes.
18. Allow mixture to cool.
19. When the pan is enough to handle, invert the cake pan over a plate larger than the pan (use whatever plate you wish to display the cake on), and open your springform pan to unmold the cake.
20. If it doesn't come right out, you can use a knife or something to go along the edges to release the cake.
21. With a spoon, drizzle about a third of your syrup evenly over the cake and allow it to soak in for approximately 10 minutes or so.
22. Repeat by spooning the next third of the syrup over evenly, and sit another 10 minutes.
23. Finally, spoon the last third over the cake evenly, cover and allow the cake to sit for at least 1 hour before serving.

Reviews

[Amis]

yummy. this was excellant. definately worth the time it takes. excellant the next day as well

[tigerduck]

I first gave this a three star rating because the filling sank to the bottom and the cake turned out too moist and I ended up not making the syrup. However, I realised that this was my fault, since I substituted pineapple for the strawberries. There is of course much more moisture in pineapple and as you can see on Thorsten's picture, it really looks great when you follow the recipe exactly. I liked the taste and I think this was a very creative submission to the summer competition. Well done, love4culinary!

[rangapeach]

Okay,okay, I confess...I've been too busy in the garden to make this cake but I'm fascinated both by the method and the ingredients. I apologize to the person who submitted because I know it would've been nice of me to do this right so I could give it a high rating. I wish the "interest factor" counted.