Calamansi and Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake (inspired by Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Yogurt Cake)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Calamansi & Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake
Calamansi and Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

Recently, Cheryl, the Children’s Librarian, brought in a basketful of the most adorable citrus fruit from her aunt’s backyard! Have you ever met the CALAMANSI? Oh, you should! They are petite, perfectly round and have a sweet and sour personality.

According to Alan Davidson’s The Oxford Companion to Food (2nd edition, 2006) (oh yeah, I’m pulling out the reference books now!):
Calamansi (or kalamansi or calamondin/kalamondin) is a hybrid of the mandarin orange and the kumquat. It is a small citrus fruit of the Philippines which plays an important role in Filipino cookery.

Calamansi & Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake
Aren’t these the cutest? They look like those little pumpkin candies – only these are real and have vitamin C!

Fresh from the Oven
made cute loaves in November and recently, Butter & Sugar made an Orange Yogurt cake. Both took inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa’s Lemon Yogurt Cake.

I made a few changes to her recipe to use the Calamansi and Meyer Lemons. Click here for Ina's recipe!

Calamansi & Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake
This cake has a lovely crumb!

Calamansi & Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake
Dry ingredients, sifted together:
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour, 2 t baking powder, 1/2 t salt

Wet ingredients, whisk together:
1 c low-fat lemon yogurt from Trader Joe’s (because I didn't want to leave the house to get the whole-milk plain yogurt, which is actually hard to find - they all seem to be non-fat or low-fat. Next time, I might use Greek yogurt since I always have this around.)
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
2 t grated citrus zest (I used 1 t calamansi and 1 t meyer lemon)
1/2 t pure vanilla extract

After mixing the dry and wet ingredients together, fold in oil:
1/2 c olive oil (Ina uses vegetable oil, but I thought adding some Omega-3s would be a good thing!)

Ina uses a loaf pan and bakes it for 50 minutes (350 degrees), but I used a 9" round and baked it for 40 minutes.

Syrup:
1/3 c freshly squeezed juice (I had 80% calamansi and 20% meyer lemon)
1/3 c sugar
While the cake was baking, make the syrup by dissolving sugar in small pan with lemon juice. After the cake comes out of the oven, let sit for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and poke some holes in the cake with a toothpick. Pour or brush on the syrup.

Ina has a glaze of juice and powdered sugar, but I just dusted it with powdered sugar.

Calamansi & Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake
This cake is really delicious. It is light, very moist and wonderful for a breakfast or tea snack. As you can see by the many adaptations, you can make it any way you want. And now that there are lots of citrus around, there is no excuse for not making this!

Thanks Cheryl for introducing me to the wonderful world of calamansi citrus!
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33 comments:

Dee said... [Reply to comment]

This looks wonderful. I haven't heard of these tiny oranges before.

Megan said... [Reply to comment]

And thank you for the education about fruit! What a lovely looking cake, I think I'll just reach over and take a slice to have with my morning coffee!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Wow! The cake looks wonderful. I've never heard of calamansi. It sounds delicious though. I love kumquats and mandarin oranges.

Steph said... [Reply to comment]

I wanted to make this cake for the longest time, but can never get over the part about folding the oil in at the last step. I wonder why we don't just whip it with the eggs and sugar.. extra batter movements stresses me out for fears of overmixing! haha

Liz said... [Reply to comment]

Ahh, wee citrus! Adorable! Also, this has reminded me I need to dust off my own Oxford Companion and get it out of the closet.

Esi said... [Reply to comment]

Oh my goodness! I literally saw the same cake today on Butter and Sugar and I was just thinking about all the Meyer lemons I keep buying at the farmers market. It must be a sign that I should make this too!

Maggie said... [Reply to comment]

How lucky you were to have a chance to play with a new kind of citrus! I have to try this with coconut milk yogurt.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

You are so right and they are so delicious... The cake looks so chic and inviting.. inviting me for a BITE!

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said... [Reply to comment]

This looks absolutely delicious. It's risen beautifully.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Lovely looking cake! My friend introduced me to kalamansit (as she calls it) last year so the name caught my eye. I will have to show this to her!

Engineer Baker said... [Reply to comment]

That does look wonderful. I absolutely love how prevalent citrus is this time of year, although I've never seen calamansi.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I wasn't familiar with the calamansi, but it sounds delicious. I love Ina's lemon yogurt cake, and your version looks great!

Snooky doodle said... [Reply to comment]

this cake looks delicious i have tried yogurt cakes and i love it. these fruit are so cute . I ve never heard of them. yummy cake

Mari said... [Reply to comment]

I love yogurt cakes, they merry so well with citrus!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

ıt looks so delicious l must to do this cake...

Karen said... [Reply to comment]

Simple and beautiful... just the right combination! Those little fruits are adorable :)

J.L. Danger said... [Reply to comment]

mmmmm Meyer lemons again. Meyer lemons are going to be the death of me. I JUST LAST NIGHT made a yogurt cake. They are so good!

Audrey said... [Reply to comment]

I have to admit I giggle whenever I see the word "kumquat" - and I'm not even sure I've ever eaten one. This cake looks wonderful! I would love to try it...I love tea cakes. Thanks for sharing!

Nancy/n.o.e said... [Reply to comment]

Boy, am I ever glad I came by here today! This cake is perfect!! I've been baking with olive oil a lot recently, and with lowfat Greek yogurt this should be wonderful. I have some Meyer lemons just begging to be used for this cake! So so pretty.
Nancy

Irene said... [Reply to comment]

I can almost smell it - looks delicious!

AmyRuth said... [Reply to comment]

Those are adorable little orange orbs. Gee can you wear them? Your photos are beautiful. Great work and I'm so glad to learn about another citrus fruit. Thankyou. Also, thank you for stopping by and leaving kind words.
AmyRuth

Nicolas Young said... [Reply to comment]

The cake sounds great, but I'm originally from the Philippines and calmansi isn't orange. They usually are green, so I'm not sure what those are in the picture. Here's a link (Calamansi) to what they normally look like.

Fit Chick said... [Reply to comment]

Beautiful cake, looks yummy!

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

Dear Belly Blabber, Thanks for visiting my blog! I asked my friend Cheryl about it and she said the calamansi she sees here in Southern California are orange, and green in the Philippines! (Her family goes back and forth a lot). I think we plant a different variety of the calamansi. I saw that the bloggers Burnt Lumpia bought a dwarf plant here and it's orange. http://burntlumpia.typepad.com/burnt_lumpia/2007/04/i_think_i_shall.html
I don't know much about plants...but I do like the calamansi (or whatever I got!!!) :)

test it comm said... [Reply to comment]

Nice looking yogurt cake!

eatme_delicious said... [Reply to comment]

What an adorable little fruit! You did a great job of showcasing it in that beautiful cake.

Mrs Ergül said... [Reply to comment]

I have recently made Ina's Yogurt Orange Cake followed by a grapefruit version. Both time I made it in my favourite silicon bundt pan. (Actually I have only 1 bundt pan! ;) )

I like how your round cake turn out, especially the edge! Your cake turned out rather high even though you used a 9" cake pan! Great job!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I have never had calamansi but this looks delicious! I have yet to see a version of this cake that I don't love.

Caroline said... [Reply to comment]

Yay for liking kalamansi, Mary! Those gorgeous citrus are indeed kalamansi, am not sure why but in US the skin turn orange as they ripen. Could be the cooler temps, less humidity even, just my guess. Next time you get ahold of more, try making curd and you can even make candy with the peel (recipes in my blog). I'm envious, you have a kalamansi supplier, they are hard to find in the market.

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

in your calamansi recipe, when you put the letter "t", do you mean teaspoon or tablespoon?

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

T,
Lowercase "t" is teaspoon and Uppercase "T" is a tablespoon. You might want to see Ina Garten's original recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-yogurt-cake-recipe/index.html

- mary the food librarian

Liz said... [Reply to comment]

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now! I just received a USPS Priority box full of my mom's Meyer lemons AND calamansi today. I am so glad to have found this recipe. Now I can't wait to make this recipe. Thank you Mary!

JoAnn said... [Reply to comment]

Oh wow, this is the first time I've seen an orange Calamansi. The ones we have here are green with hints of yellow. Great post! :) The cake looks delicious, moist with a tender tight crumb.

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