You know that time is flying by when you don't realize that it's been a while since you've last baked anything. I didn't notice that it had been over a week since I last tinkered with the oven until my dad brought it up on Tuesday night, asking if I was planning to bake something for dessert. I've been busy working, writing, crocheting, watching movies, and hanging out with friends; I hadn't given a thought to baking, so I went with something extremely easy to make--the yogurt cake.

I was first introduced to this dessert during my senior year of college when I was hanging out with the French exchange students from Clermont-Ferrand. One of the French girls had brought over a deliciously moist cake topped with pineapple for our weekly Desperate Housewives watch party. When I asked for the recipe, the girls told me that there wasn't really a recipe; it was all about proportions with the yogurt cake. After learning the ratios of the ingredients needed for this cake, I promptly went home and tried it out with different add-ins. The rest is history. The yogurt cake is my go-to recipe whenever I need a quick sugar fix; it's super tasty but incredibly simple to put together, so much so that this is apparently the first cake that French children learn to bake.

I decided to keep things simple, so I didn't add anything special to the batter like strawberries or chocolate chips. Instead, I just added a couple of splashes of vanilla and rum, and then I called it a day. The cake has a subtle taste, which is oddly attractive; it's not too sweet and it's not bland. This cake is the perfect, down-the-middle kind of dessert. If you have never made or tasted a yogurt cake, I highly recommend you run out to the market for some yogurt and get to work immediately!

Plain Yogurt Cake
Ingredients

• One 8-ounce tub (use this as a measuring cup) of nonfat, plain yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tub white sugar
• 1/3 tub vegetable oil
• 2 hearty splashes of golden rum
• 2 splashes of vanilla extract
• 2 tubs all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

Mix together the yogurt, eggs, sugar, and oil in a large bowl until smooth. Once smooth, stir in the rum and vanilla, adding them to taste.

Sift all of the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture. Then mix the batter until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overwork the dough, so stop mixing as soon as you see the last trace of flour begin to disappear.

Pour the batter into a 10-inch, ceramic tart pan sprayed with Baker's Joy baking spray. Place the cake into an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for 25-30 minutes. As soon as a cake tester poked into the center of the cake comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool to room temperature before cutting into it.

Enjoy!