A light and fluffy cake so tangy and zesty that you’ll want to eat all the time. The great thing about this recipe is that you can utilize all parts of the orange: juice, zest, and pulp, although I barely used any of the pulp. However, after I extracted some of the mandarin juice, I ended up eating the remains of the orange since food waste is not an option!

I used mandarin oranges for this recipe but feel free to use any other oranges such as navel, cara cara oranges, etc.

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Low-Fat Mandarin Orange Yogurt Cake

yield: 1 (9 x 5) loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1 c.  whole milk yogurt + 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 tsp. mandarin orange zest
• 2 tbsp. mandarin orange juice
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1/3 c. chopped walnuts

For the glaze:

• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. mandarin orange juice

Directions:

1. Grease loaf pan or line with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg. Add in sugar and poppy seeds and combine well. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, oil, orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
4. Add the dry mixture into the wet in 3 batches and combine well. Add in the chopped walnuts and bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes, until brown on top and toothpick comes out of the batter clean.
5. Let loaf cool on a cooling rack for approx. 30 min before putting the glaze on + top with additional zest. Or you can be like me- I skipped the glaze because I could not wait and I went ahead and ate the loaf fresh out of the oven.

 

The bread lasts in the fridge up to 2 weeks and freezes extremely well. Feel free to make smaller servings such as muffins. I haven’t tried it yet but am certain they will turn out delicious as well.