Watched a neighbor try to substitute yogurt for buttermilk in a cake... and it curdled right in the mixing bowl

I was killing time on my porch last Sunday when my neighbor Karen came out with this bowl of lumpy batter asking for help. She told me she swapped 1 cup of buttermilk for 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt because she read online it was a good substitute. Except she didn't realize you have to thin it with milk first so the acidity doesn't mess with the baking soda. By the time I got over there, her lemon cake looked more like cottage cheese with lemon zest mixed in. She still baked it anyway and it came out like a dense hockey puck that tasted like sour lemon. Has anyone else had a dairy swap go completely haywire like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant.richard1mo ago

My buddy Brad tried sour cream instead of buttermilk for pancakes and they came out like weird fluffy hockey pucks.

sammurray1mo agoTop Commenter

Got a buddy who tried using yogurt in waffles once. Said they turned out dense and chewy like leftover pizza crust.