Vanilla & Chocolate Chunk cake

Fudgy, foolproof, and finished in under an hour — powered by yogurt and a prayer for chocolate chunks.

Some recipes earn a permanent spot in your kitchen. Not because they're complicated — but because they're reliably brilliant. This yogurt-based vanilla cake is one of those recipes. Dense where it should be, soft where it counts, and topped with chocolate ganache and a scattering of sea salt that makes every bite feel intentional.

The secret weapon here is yogurt. It adds a subtle tang, keeps the crumb incredibly moist, and replaces the need for buttermilk or sour cream. Paired with the lift from baking powder and baking soda, you get a cake that rises beautifully and settles into that perfect, slightly fudgy texture that makes you cut a second slice before the first is finished.

Dark chocolate chunks folded into the vanilla batter melt during baking into little pockets of intensity. Don't skip them. They're not decorative — they're structural to the whole experience.

Ingredients

DRY

• 170g All-purpose flour

• 10g Cornflour

• 7g Baking powder

• 2g Baking soda

• A pinch ofSalt

• 170g Castor sugar

WET

• 220g Full-fat yogurt

• 110g Neutral oil

• 5g Vanilla bean paste

MIX-IN & TOPPING

• 50g Dark chocolate, chopped

• Melted chocolate or ganache, optional

• Walnuts, optional

• Flaky sea salt, optional

The Method for our vanilla & chocolate chunk Cake

This is a one-bowl situation. No creaming butter, no separating eggs, no stand mixer required — just a bowl, a whisk, and ten minutes of effort.

Heat your oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 6-inch cake ring with parchment. Don't skip the lining — the batter is tender and you want a clean release.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, vanilla, and castor sugar until smooth and well combined. The sugar dissolves partially into the yogurt, which is exactly what you want.

Sift in the flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold everything together until it just comes together — a few streaks of flour are fine. Overmixing is the enemy of a tender crumb.

Add the dark chocolate chunks and fold them in gently. Distribute them evenly — or don't, pockets of chocolate are never a bad thing.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 10–15 minutes. Start checking at 10. You want a skewer to come out with just the faintest crumbs — not wet batter, not clean. That small difference is what separates good from exceptional.

Let the cake cool completely before topping. Pour over melted chocolate or a silky ganache, scatter walnuts if you like the contrast, and finish with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt. The salt isn't optional in spirit — it wakes everything up.