Gâteau au yaourt in US measures: ½ cup + 1 tbsp plain yogurt, 3 large eggs, 1 cup + 1 tbsp sugar, 1½ cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, ¼ cup oil and 2¾ tsp baking powder, baked at 350 °F (180 °C, thermostat 6) for 30 to 35 minutes in a 9-inch pan. In France the yogurt pot is the measuring cup: 1 pot of yogurt, 2 of sugar, 3 of flour, ½ of oil.
Gâteau au yaourt: the recipe in grams and US cups
| Ingredient | French recipe | US measure |
|---|---|---|
| yaourt natureplain whole-milk yogurt | 1 pot (125 g) | ½ cup + 1 tbsp |
| œufseggs (US large) | 3 | 3 |
| sucre en poudregranulated sugar | 2 pots (≈ 209 g) | 1 cup + 1 tbsp |
| farine (T55)all-purpose flour | 3 pots (≈ 190 g) | 1½ cups + 1 tbsp |
| huile neutreneutral oil (canola, sunflower) | ½ pot (≈ 52 g) | ¼ cup |
| levure chimique (1 sachet)baking powder | 11 g | 2¾ tsp |
| sucre vanillé (optional)vanilla sugar | 7.5 g (1 sachet) | 1½ tsp sugar + ½ tsp vanilla extract |
| beurre pour le moulebutter for the pan | a little | a little |
Tap a row to tick it off. US measures use King Arthur Baking weights per cup; a scale gives the most exact result.
Method
- Heat the oven to 180 °C (thermostat 6); on a US oven dial that is 350 °F. Butter the pan and line the base with a circle of parchment.
- Spoon the yogurt into a large bowl. Scrape the pot clean and keep it: in France it is the measuring cup for everything else.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then the sugar (2 pots) and the vanilla sugar, until smooth and a little paler.
- Add the flour (3 pots) and baking powder and whisk only until no dry flour shows.
- Stir in the oil (½ pot). The batter will be loose and pourable; that is right.
- Pour into the pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes, until golden and a knife pushed into the center comes out clean.
- Leave 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack. Serve plain, warm or cold.
A loaf pan works too; it is deeper, so start testing at 35 minutes and expect it to need longer. Changing pan size changes the batter depth, so check doneness early or late.
Converted from the traditional French recipe; not yet kitchen-tested by Mangez Moi.
The French way: the pot is the measuring cup
A French yogurt comes in a 125 g pot. Empty it into the bowl and the pot becomes the measure for everything else, which is why the gâteau au yaourt is the first cake many French children bake on their own. Recipes of this kind appeared in France around 1950, once yogurt had become an everyday food after the war.
US yogurt cups are bigger and vary, so the pot method gives a bigger cake here. A 5.3 oz (150 g) cup makes the recipe 1.2 times larger and an 8 oz (227 g) cup 1.8 times larger. Use the measures in the table, or keep the pot ratios and pick the matching size above (1½× or 2×) to see the bigger pan you need.
Oil, not butter, is what keeps this cake moist for days, and the yogurt’s tang balances the sugar. Want it lighter? Whisk the eggs and sugar for a full minute before the flour goes in.
Easy variations
- Lemon: add the zest of a lemon, or swap the vanilla sugar for a splash of lemon juice.
- Apple: some French school versions fold in 3 peeled, diced apples and bake lower and longer (160 °C / 325 °F for about 45 minutes).
Tools used on this page: the recipe converter (grams to cups), French oven temperatures, the cake pan size converter and the French recipe abbreviations list.
Sources
- Wikipédia (fr), “Gâteau au yaourt” – pot ratios, 180 °C / Th 6, about 30 minutes
- Snippets of Paris, “Yogurt cake (French children's recipe)” – 3 eggs, 1 sachet baking powder, 180 °C, about 30 minutes
- Milk Street, “The Easiest French Cake” – the pot method and why oil keeps it moist
- École Alain et Michelet (académie de Nantes), “Gâteau au yaourt” – a school version with 3 apples, 160 °C for 45 minutes
The quantities are the traditional formula, cross-checked against the sources above; the method is written in our own words. US measures are computed from the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart by the same converter as our recipe converter.
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How big is a French yogurt pot in cups?
A pot holds 125 g of yogurt, which is about ½ cup (½ cup + 1 tbsp when you measure the yogurt itself). As a measure for sugar and flour, bakers use it as about 125 ml.
What is 180 °C in Fahrenheit for this cake?
180 °C is 356 °F, French thermostat 6. Set a US oven to 350 °F.
Can I use a US yogurt cup as the measure?
Yes, keep the same ratios (1 yogurt, 2 sugar, 3 flour, ½ oil, 3 eggs), but the cake will be bigger: a 6 oz (170 g) cup is about 1.36 times the French recipe, so use a deeper or larger pan.
Why does the gâteau au yaourt use oil instead of butter?
Oil stays liquid at room temperature, so the cake stays soft and moist for several days, and it saves melting butter.
Cite this page: Mangez Moi, “Gâteau au Yaourt in Cups: French Yogurt Cake Recipe,” mangezmoi.com, updated October 9, 2026, https://mangezmoi.com/recipes/gateau-au-yaourt/. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit and a link.