French chef shares 'simplest ever' one pot cake recipe ready in under an hour

Daily Record

19-06-2025

A former Great British Bake Off star has shared the "quickest and simplest" cake recipe that is perfect to make at home
A French chef has shared a tasty cake recipe that might not only simplify baking but also spare you endless hours in the kitchen. Born in France, Manon Lagrève, a former Great British Bake Off contestant, learned to bake with guidance from her mother and grandmother.
One of her cherished recipes is for a yoghurt cake - prepped in a mere 45 minutes. She says the dessert, known as "gâteau au yaourt", serves as an exquisite base for a bounty of fruit flavours, presenting a fabulous dessert option or an afternoon treat to enjoy with friends.
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She shared the recipe in her cookbook Et Voila! A Simple French Baking Love Story. In it, the mother of two claimed it's "the simplest and quickest French cake she knows". She added: "The cake is so moist and versatile, you can make it with many flavours and shapes - I use my simple Bundt tin."
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Manon's French yoghurt cake recipe
Ingredients
125g pot of Greek yoghurt
Two pots of white sugar (250g)
Three eggs
One pot of olive oil
Three pots of plain flour
One teaspoon of baking powder
One pinch of salt
One teaspoon of vanilla extract
Fresh raspberries or blueberries
In a bid to make this recipe even more mess-free, Manon's recipe uses the empty yoghurt pot to measure out the same quantities worth of ingredients. She says all you have to do is measure out two pots worth of sugar, three pots of flour and one of oil to ensure they match the quantity of the yoghurt used in the cake.
Instructions
Grease a Bundt cake tin or standard-sized loaf tin with a little butter or cooking spray then dust a light coating of flour over the top.
Next, empty the yoghurt pot into a mixing bowl and fill it up twice with sugar and pour it into the bowl. Mix everything together with a whisk to form a thick cream before cracking in the eggs.
To loosen the mixture, whisk in the eggs then drizzle in the vanilla extract, pour in the oil and stir once more. For the final step, add in the dry ingredients which include the flour, salt, and baking powder and pour into the tin. You can give the batter a quick taste test and if you feel it needs more flavour, you can add a little bit more vanilla.
Cover the blueberries or raspberries in a little flour to stop them from sinking, then place them on the surface of the batter and push them in slightly.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes at 180C, then remove and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Carefully turn the cake out onto a cake stand with the fruit-topped side facing upwards.
Sprinkle with icing sugar and top with a sprig of rosemary. Manon said: "Et voila. This is the quickest French cake in your repertoire!"