Spring Time Lemon Yogurt Cake

So last night I was watching Cutthroat Kitchen, my favorite food network show, and they had to make their take on a lemon bar. If you watch that show, you would know that they have the ability to sabotage others to try and beat them. In the final round it will usually get pretty funny. I like it because it shows how good the chefs really are, not just how well they can cook. In this episode, there were two guys, one of whom had $20,000, and the other had $4,000. So obviously the guy with $20,000 was going to buy most of the sabotages because he had more money than the other so he could outbid him on the items. When they started making the lemon bars, Alton brought out a fake tree and replaced the loser's basket of items with the tree which had the ingredients inside little lemon juice bottles. This just got me wondering what other lemon cakes and things would be good for the 'entering March' time of year. I started to surf the web and I came across this recipe on Food Network, and it is for a lemon yogurt cake. I was, and am, really in the mood for lemon-y things at the moment, and so this recipe was perfect!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 extra-large eggs
3 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pure vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF
Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2 inch loaf pan.
Line the bottom with parchment paper.
Grease and four the pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup of sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla.
Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter,making sure it's all incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake fro about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes clean.
While the cake is baking, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.
Set aside.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan.
While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in.
Cool.
For the glaze, combine the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

Image Curtesy of Barefoot Contessa