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by: Sarah
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It’s a relatively rare occurrence when the sheer delight and originality of a new recipe totally and completely makes your day. Today is that day, my friends.
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 fromTrader 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!
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5 from 15 votes
Lemon Basil Yogurt Cake
The impetus 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.
by: Sarah
Course:Dessert and Sweet Stuff
Cuisine:American
serves: 8 servings
Prep: 10 minutes minutes
Cook: 50 minutes minutes
Total: 1 hour hour
Rate
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 3/4 cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup basil (finely chopped)
For the glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon milk
US Customary - Metric
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.
Carefully fold in the dry mixture until just combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes (adjust time according to the type of pan you used), or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and milk. Stir. When the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze over the top.
nutrition facts
Calories: 365kcal (18%) Carbohydrates: 53g (18%) Protein: 5g (10%) Fat: 16g (25%) Saturated Fat: 3g (15%) Cholesterol: 44mg (15%) Sodium: 174mg (7%) Potassium: 202mg (6%) Fiber: 1g (4%) Sugar: 34g (38%) Vitamin A: 135IU (3%) Vitamin C: 3.5mg (4%) Calcium: 95mg (10%) Iron: 1.5mg (8%)
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About Sarah
Sarah is the older daughter/sister in The Woks of Life family. Creator of quick and easy recipes for harried home cooks and official Woks of Life photographer, she grew up on episodes of Ready Set Cook and Good Eats. She loves the outdoors (and of course, *cooking* outside), and her obsession with food continues to this day.
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