Okay, so at first glance this cake does kind of look like jalapeño cornbread or something with all those rand-o green specks in it. The cognitive dissonance caused by what looks like dried parsley floating in your cake batter can be difficult to get used to at first. But you WILL get used to it, because this cake—it’s genius. Of course, lemon and basil together isn’t really a new combination. A world of pasta recipes and a plethora of over-priced hand soaps can attest to that. But in a dessert? Oh man. The main cause for this Lemon Basil Yogurt Cake was this huge basil plant that’s thriving in our overheated, sun-pounded, south-facing apartment. There’s really no gradual, pleasant transition to Spring in Beijing. It just goes from really cold to really hot in the span of a couple weeks, and we’ve already had 80 degree weather here. Meanwhile, the state mandates that the air conditioning across the city won’t be turned on until they say so. So we’ll just have to sit here and melt until then. The Basil: la-di-da! Happy times!
Us: Not the light! We’re meltinggggg!! MELTING!!!! We might as well be this guy right now: Ahem. While trawling the internet for interesting recipes in which basil plays a starring role, I came across a Trader’s Joe’s lemon basil cake, involving one of their boxed cake mixes. Considering the closest Trader Joe’s Vanilla Cake mix is probably approximately 7,456 miles away, I decided to adapt my own yogurt cake recipe. It’s an incredibly moist, light, yogurt olive oil cake that will knock yo’ socks off. A few packs of yogurt with sketchy expiration dates in the fridge + a basil plant in need of pruning = TRIUMPH. Recipe adapted from Trader Joe’s Cake
Lemon Basil Cake: Recipe Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8-inch round pan or standard loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using your fingers, mix the sugar with the lemon zest in a large bowl until the sugar has the texture of damp sand.
Add the yogurt and lemon juice, and mix well. Then add the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and basil. Whisk until well-blended. Ignore the weirdness. You won’t regret this!
Carefully fold in the dry mixture until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Baking time depends on what pan you used (it took around 45 minutes in an 8-inch round pan). Make the glaze (we’re not really “glaze” people, but we highly recommend you don’t skip this one) by combining the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and milk. Stir. When the lemon basil cake is cool, drizzle the glaze over the top. Slice and serve this refreshing Lemon Basil Yogurt Cake with a strong cup of coffee!
