Cocoa Yogurt Cake

A very easy, yet tasty dessert, great served with afternoon coffee.  Or tea, if that floats your boat.  This is not an English tea cake, though.  It's a Serbian recipe of imperial origin!  Not really, it's just that the old lady who gave it to me, a friend of my mum's, was, quite inscrutably, nicknamed the Empress.  I remember her as a gentle and unassuming woman, but it could be that her nobility shone through...

The cake is so easy to make that I don't have pictures of the process.  Just combine in a big bowl the following ingredients:

3 cups flour
3 cups caster sugar
1.5 cup oil (sunflower, or another neutral smelling oil)
1 heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda in the US)
2 heaped Tablespoons cocoa
300 ml (more or less) yogurt or buttermilk

A wooden spoon is quite enough to mix these together, there is no beating or smoothing involved.

Pour the soft, almost runny dough into an oiled and floured baking tin, and bake for 40-45 minutes in a 180C (160 fan, 350F) oven.  The dough will stay moist in the middle, but it shouldn't still be runny if you're testing with a cake pick or a thin knife.

Spread the top of the cake, while still warm, with a thin layer of jam.  I used some quince jelly that we had in the cupboard, but apricot, strawberry or cherry would also go nicely.

Finally, cover with icing sugar (use a shaker, if you have one - I don't, so a tea-strainer it is).

Leave to cool completely, then cut into largish pieces and serve with strong coffee.  Enjoy!