It’s a funny time of year. You might leave in the morning in flip flops, only to come home later in a snowstorm. I can’t help you with what to wear on days like this, but I can tell you that this cake has you covered no matter what you are facing. It is warm and comforting, but also bright and summery.

It is also very dense cake, probably because of all the yoghurt in it. Consider this permission to have it for breakfast with a cup of coffee or tea with zero guilt.

Makes: 1 loaf-pan size cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• 1.5 tsp lemon zest
• 0.5 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 0.5 cup (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (250 g) plain Greek yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1.5 cups (180 g) AP flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees C
2. Lightly grease a loaf pan and line it with parchment
3. Rub the lemon zest (1.5 tsp) and the rosemary (0.5 tsp) into the sugar
4. Cream together the butter (0.5 cup) and the sugar mixture
5. Add yoghurt (1 cup), eggs (3), vanilla (1 tsp), and lemon juice (3 tbsp) and mix together
6. In a medium bowl, mix together flour (1.5 cups), baking powder (1.5 tsp) and salt (0.5 tsp)
7. Add dry ingredients to wet ones and mix just until combined
8. Pour (or scoop!) the batter into the prepared loaf pan
9. Bake for about 60-80 minutes, until the top is nicely brown and a toothpick in the centre comes out clean or with just a few crumbs
10. Let cool before removing from pan

Notes:

• Rubbing the lemon zest and rosemary into the sugar may seem fussy, and you might be tempted to just toss it in and be done with it. I respect that. Just know that lemon zest has an annoying habit of forming clumps and rubbing it into the sugar helps lower the odds of a surprisingly lemony bite of cake.
• I know that rosemary rarely gets to hang out at the dessert table, but it should! Don’t worry, your cake isn’t going to end up tasting like a roast chicken. Rosemary will just add a slightly spicy, lemony flavour that just adds a little something extra here.