Cooking with Kids: Let Them Eat (Yogurt) Cake!

Bonjour!  We’ve just finished re-reading Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman.   

We’ll let you decide what you make of this controversial guide to the essentials of French child-rearing – but one take away that everyone will enjoy is a recipe for gâteau au yaourt (Yogurt Cake)!   

One part of the book that we loved was the focus on engaging the family through food.  A ritual for many French families is to spend a portion of each weekend baking and cooking together, as a family.  The little ones learn to contribute in the kitchen as soon as they can lift a spoon!  

Gâteau au yaourt is a classic children’s recipe that bébés can make on their own (with a bit of loving oversight from their mamans and papas).

Gâteau au yaourt

• 2 six-ounce containers plain whole-milk yogurt (use the empty containers to measure the other ingredients)
• 2 eggs
• 2 containers of sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Just under 1 container vegetable oil
• 4 containers of flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• Crème fraîche(optional)

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Preheat over to 375°F.

Use vegetable oil to grease 9-inch round cake pan or a loaf pan.

Gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil.   

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; mix gently until ingredients are just combined (don’t over mix).   You can add 2 containers of frozen berries or 1 container of chocolate chips, or any flavoring you like.  

Bake for 35 minutes, then 5 minutes more if the cake doesn’t pass the knife test.  

Let it cool.  Serve with tea and a dollop of crème fraîche.