Crystallized Ginger - Yoghurt Pound Cake

A great cake to have with coffee and tea. Very easy to make and tastes like you fussed. Dense and buttery with a gingery zing.

• Ready In: 1 hr 35 mins
• Yields: 1 large Bundt Cake

Ingredients

• 1  cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  almond extract
• 4  eggs, at room temperature
• 2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups  Greek yogurt (sour cream can be used instead)
• 3⁄4 cup crystallized ginger, cut in tiny pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F (a low temperature, but it works); butter and flour a bundt pan (mine is no-stick but I still butter and flour it).
2. With mixer beat butter for a couple of minutes until white; add sugar and extracts and beat a few minutes longer (about 8-9 minutes in all); Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition; With mixer on low (to avoid getting flour dust all over the kitchen) add flour, baking powder and salt alternately with yoghurt; beat in ginger; this makes a very thick batter; Spoon into prepared bundt pan and bake for 75 minutes (but start checking with toothpick to see if it's done after an hour (temperatures vary from oven to oven).
3. Variations: I often use the 'base' recipe (omitting the ginger) and 'marble some of the batter with cocoa (add a tablespoonful or so of milk and 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of cocoa to 1/3 of the batter); or make a nut cake by stirring in 1 1/2 cups of the flour-dusted, toasted nuts of your choice (a sprinkle of freshly-grated nutmeg is great in this version); our current favourite is chocolate, chocolate/chip where I add 3 tablespoonfuls of cocoa to the batter (along with a couple of tablespoonfuls of milk - or buttermilk if you have it) and then stir in 1 1/2 cups of flour-dusted chocolate chips at the end, before spooning into pan.