Strawberry Yogurt Skillet Cake

This simple strawberry yogurt cake requires only a few bowls and bakes right in your cast iron skillet! Cast iron skillets aren’t just for perfectly fried eggs and seared steaks. They have lots of other uses! Including cake. This is a use I really appreciate, especially when the cake is full of ripe strawberries, tangy yogurt, and sweet cornmeal, then topped with sliced almonds. Yum!

I’ve been loving my cast iron skillet so much that my other pans are getting jealous! 🙂 Okay, not really, but I do find myself reaching for it on the regular, so it was only a matter of time before I made a blog-worthy dessert in my pan. And this strawberry yogurt cake is totally a blog-worthy dessert.

• It’s moist and tender.
• It has a tasty crust around the edge.
• It’s full of strawberries!
• There are delightfully toasted almonds on top.
• And I would absolutely serve this to company!

What more can you ask for?

Oh yes, it’s easy too!

You will need a couple of bowls, a whisk, a spatula, and 12 inch cast iron skillet. However, you won’t need a mixer, a food processor, or any other machinery. (Though you do need to melt the butter, but I assume you have a cooktop or a microwave. 🙂 )

ALSO, you can mix this all together almost in the time it takes for the oven to heat up. I can get it in the oven in about 15 minutes, and that’s with the 5 minutes you need to whisk the eggs until they are light and smooth. I will note, though, that I am pretty quick at slicing strawberries. If you’re slower, it might take you 20 minutes. Still fast!

Then 40 minutes in the oven, while you clean up and relax and have a cup of coffee or check your emails, and DONE. You now have cake. Use it wisely. By that I mean share. 😉

Let’s see, a few more things about the cake before I get to the recipe:

1. The batter should be wet enough that it’s easy to spread it out in the skillet. If it seems a bit too thick, add another tablespoon or two of milk.
2. I prefer a finely ground cornmeal in the recipe. It gives a finer crumb. However, a medium grind cornmeal will make a lovely, rustic cake.
3. There is no need to toast the almonds first. They will toast up in the oven on the cake.
4. I find getting the whole cake out of the skillet rather tricky, but it can be done once it cools enough to handle. You just need to be strong enough to flip the skillet. Or skilled enough to get a spatula underneath to slip it out. If not, you can cut it up and remove the pieces (my method!).

– Happy Baking, Annemarie

And another picture of Midnight for you! With bonus daughter. 🙂

Print Recipe

Strawberry Yogurt Skillet Cake

This easy strawberry yogurt cake is topped with sliced almonds and cooks right in your cast iron skillet! It's great as a breakfast cake or for an evening dessert with some vanilla ice cream.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 12 slices

Calories: 375kcal

Author: Just a Little Bit of Bacon

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely ground cornmeal
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt, whole or 2%
• 1/2 cup milk, whole or 2%
• 12 tbsp (6 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Place a 12 inch cast iron skillet into the oven.
  
• Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, melted butter, almond extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the eggs and sugar until the eggs are light in color and thick, about 5 minutes.
  
• Add the yogurt mixture to the eggs and fold it in with a large silicone spatula. Then add the flour mixture and 1 1/2 cups of the strawberries and fold them in until just mixed.
  
• Take the hot skillet out of the oven. Pour the batter into the skillet and smooth it out with your spatula. Scatter the reserved strawberries over the top and sprinkle the almonds around. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is browned and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.
  
• If desired, serve sprinkled with some powdered sugar or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
  

Notes

• I think the cake looks prettiest if you reserve the end slices of the strawberries to top the cake, so I set aside about 1/2 cup of end slices as I'm working.
• If you don't have almond extract, you can use vanilla instead. The almond gives it a stronger almond flavor, but either is nice in the cake.
• I like a very finely ground cornmeal for the recipe - Bob's Red Mill Fine Ground Cornmeal. I have also used medium grind cornmeal (Quaker) and find the cake to be more rustic than I want, though it's still great for breakfast and snacks.

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