Meskouta is the Moroccan everyday cake, the one made at home for tea time or a child's birthday, not for guests. It is built on the French yogurt-cake formula that came to Morocco during the French Protectorate: a cake measured in yogurt containers, using the empty pot as the measuring cup. The Moroccan adaptation adds orange-blossom water or orange zest, and sometimes semolina instead of part of the flour for a grainier texture. It is the most French-influenced dish in the Moroccan sweet repertoire, and it is also the most informal: no syrup, no almonds, no warqa, just cake.
Moist, tender and lightly sweet, with a faint citrus or floral note from the orange. It is the texture of a pound cake but lighter, and it is meant to be eaten with the fingers, not a fork.
The yogurt does two things in this cake: its acid reacts with the baking powder to create extra lift, giving a lighter crumb than milk would, and its fat keeps the cake moist for days. The yogurt-cake method, measuring everything in the yogurt container, produces a ratio of approximately 1:1:1:1 (yogurt, oil, sugar, flour) that is forgiving and almost impossible to ruin. This is why it is the cake Moroccan children learn to make first.
Variations
Some add semolina for a grainier texture. A chocolate version is popular with children. Apples or pears can be layered on top.
On the Palate
Where Meskouta sits in the Moroccan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
5 steps · 15 min
- 18 min
In a bowl, mix 1 yogurt pot (125 g) plain yogurt, 1 pot oil, 2 pots sugar, 3 pots flour, 1 pot ground almonds, 3 eggs, 1 tsp baking powder, zest of 1 orange, 1 tsp orange-blossom water.
- 22 min
Pour into a greased 24 cm cake pan.
- 312 min
Bake at 180 degrees C for 30-35 min until a knife comes out clean.
Watch outPull it the second a knife comes out clean — this yogurt cake dries out fast, and a few extra minutes turn the moist crumb crumbly.
- 43 min
Cool 10 min in the pan; turn out.
- 53 min
Dust with powdered sugar; serve with tea.
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