Orange Yoghurt cake, or Gâteau au Yaourt, is a French classic and a winter staple in my kitchen. It’s incredibly moist with a bright citrus flavor that isn’t overpowering. My favorite part? The way the whole house smells like fresh oranges while it bakes.
Unlike traditional sponges, this recipe uses no butter—relying on yoghurt and oil instead. This keeps the crumb light and tender, making it perfect for a morning treat or afternoon tea. While some serve it with cream or orange syrup, I think it’s best enjoyed plain with a hot cup of tea.
Why You’ll Love This French Orange Yoghurt Cake
One-Bowl Easy: No stand mixer or beaters required—just a whisk and 10 minutes of prep.
Stays Moist for Days: Unlike butter-based cakes that can dry out, the yogurt and oil keep this crumb tender for up to 4 days.
Light but Rich: It’s a lighter alternative to pound cake but still feels indulgent and zesty.
Make-Ahead Friendly: It actually tastes better the next day and freezes perfectly for later.
IngrEdients for French Orange Yoghurt Cake
To make this orange yoghurt cake you will these ingredients:
Plain Flour – I used plain flour and added baking powder. You can also use same quantity of self raising flour while omitting baking powder.
Yoghurt – The yoghurt used in the recipe is Greek yoghurt but you can use any plain yoghurt. You can also use low fat yoghurt.
Oil – any neutral tasting vegetable oil works such as canola oil, you can use olive oil too.
Orange – the most essential part of the recipe. I used navel orange, it has nice, sweet citrus flavour. We need zest and juice from the orange.
Eggs – 2 eggs at room temperature. The eggs at room temperature get mixed evenly resulting in smooth batter. The eggs straight from fridge sometimes curdle the mixture. Allow the eggs to be at room temperature or alternatively put them in tap water for few minutes.
Sugar – Caster sugar is needed for the cake and little bit of icing sugar to dust on the top( but that’s optional)
How to Make French Orange Yoghurt Cake
The recipe for making French orange yoghurt cake is very simple. No stand mixers or beater required, just a whisk would do and everything gets mixed up in one bowl.
- Whisk the Base: Combine the sugar, oil, yoghurt, and eggs in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.
- Add Dry Ingredients: Sift in the flour and baking powder, adding them directly to the wet mixture.
- Flavor and Mix: Pour in the orange juice and add the zest. Mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Bake: Pour into your tin and bake for 40–45 minutes.
Traditionally this cake is baked in loaf tin but you can use Bundt mould or choose any tin of your choice.
Watch How to Make French Orange Yoghurt Cake
STORING ORANGE YOGHURT CAKE
This cake stays moist and fresh for up to 2 days when kept in an airtight container on the counter.You can refrigerate it for up to 4 days.
Freezing: Wrap the cake (or individual slices) tightly in cling wrap and freeze for up to a month.
To Reheat: Thaw at room temperature. For that “just-baked” feel, pop a slice in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.
Other Cake Recipes to Try
Got any questions? Ask Me! I’m happy to help if you have any question. If you try this recipe and like it or have some suggestions, leave some comments below.
French Orange Yoghurt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups Plain flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 cup Caster Sugar
- ¾ cup oil
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Plain Yoghurt or Greek Yoghurt
- ¼ cup Freshly squeezed orange juice
- ½ tsp Orange Zest
- 1 tbsp Icing Sugar Optional for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C or 350°F fan forced and line a rectangular baking tin with baking paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl add yoghurt, oil, eggs and caster sugar. Mix well with a whisk untill its creamy.
- Add sifted flour and orange juice. Using a grater peel rind of the orange and add it in.
- Mix all the ingredients well until the mixture is smooth.
- Pour it in the pan and bake for around 40 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool down before dusting icing sugar.
This is my favourite cake to make. I made this several time hence had to post the review about it. It turns out perfect every single time. Thanks for sharinh this recipe !
Very nice recipe. Love this cake with delicious hint of citrus. It smells amazing and is very soft and fluffy.
Thankyou ! I love the citrusy smell too when its baking, its lovely.
The best cake ever !!! I love it, its so moist and light. Never knew a cake could be so nice without butter.
Thankyou !! Really nice to hear that you liked the cake and it turned out good.
I’d like to make this cake but am unsure as to what size tin to use. Ideally I’d like to use a 3lb loaf tin but I’m wondering if I need to use a smaller one. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Judith, Apologies for late response. My loaf tin is 26.5cm x 13.5cm x 6.5cm. I bake this cake in this tin and it fits perfectly. I think 3lb loaf tin would be probably too big for this. I hope this helps.
Has anybody ever substituted the sugar with orange blossom honey before either wholly or in part? I’m curious as to what it would taste like.
Hi Jazz, Never substituted sugar for honey. If you do, let me know how it goes.
I’ve made this cake twice in 3 days, my favourite cake so far, especially using fresh oranges from my garden, thank you from Australia!!!!
Best cake ever, loved the delicous soft cake with hint of citrus. Simply loved it !!
What type of oil do you recommend using for this recipe?
Hi, I made this cake and it just wouldn’t cook through. I used a oblong cake tin.
I think that the batter was too wet despite me measuring everything accurately. I thought that was a lot of oil and reduced it slightly.
Hi Cynthia, The batter for this cake is a bit dense. I wouldn’t change the quantity of ingredients rather consider baking for longer. Sometimes the cake takes longer to cook through due to varied oven temperatures. You can bake it for longer than the mentioned time. If it gets brown on the top, cover it with foil so that it cooks from center without getting darker on the top. Hope this helps.
I have made it twice since winter has started. Its so nice moist and fluffy. Beautiful.flavours of organge and yoghurt. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe
Thankyou Adin. Its my winter favourite recipe too ! 🙂
Made this cake twice now…….. just gorgeous and so light to eat…….making it on a weekly basis🙏
I’m so glad to know that you liked the cake. I agree its very light, yoghurt makes it very moist, light and fluffy.
Wonderful recipe and so easy to make. I used coconut oil and reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup so it won’t be too sweet. The hint of orange with the creaminess of yogurt makes this cake memorable and perfect for tea. Thank you for the recipe.
Thankyou for trying this recipe. Its great to know that it works well with coconut oil.