Gin and Lime Gâteau au Yaourt with gin berry coulis

I recently read about Gâteau au Yaourt, a staple in French home baking and often the first thing that children in France learn to cook.  That’s because it can be made be using two small yoghurt pots, which once you’ve emptied out the yoghurt, you use to measure out the rest of the ingredients.  I decided though to make a more grown up version, with fresh lime zest and juice, and a good glug of gin.  I served it with a coulis of mixed berries, which I also added gin and lime to.  It’s lovely and light and airy, with a great crust on top. 

Ingredients

8 oz Greek yogurt

2 eggs
3 fl. oz vegetable oil 

6 oz caster sugar
2 tbsp gin

Zest of 2 limes, finely grated

Juice of 1 lime
10 oz self-raising flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

For the coulis

10 oz mixed berries (blackberries, redcurrants, cherries, raspberries, strawberries)

4 oz caster sugar

Juice of 1 lime

3 tbsp gin

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C and grease and line a 9 inch round cake tin.
2. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, oil, sugar, gin, lime zest and juice.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold together until just combined.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, and transfer onto a rack to cool.
5. Meanwhile, make the coulis: place the berries, sugar and lime juice in a saucepan and heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved. Once the juice has reduced but before all the fruit has entirely lost their shape, remove from the heat and stir in the gin.

Adapted from a basic yoghurt cake recipe from the Chocolate and Zucchini blog http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/10/yogurt_cake.php