Lemon Basil Olive Oil Cake- Guest Post from Hall Nesting

This lemon basil olive oil cake is perfect for spring and summer bursting with fresh lemon and basil, it tastes just like summer!

Hey yall I’m Lauren and I write the blog Hall Nesting. Obviously from the yall you can tell I am not from Sophia’s neck of the woods but am a true Georgia peach now living in the Heart of Dixie! I am so excited to be visiting as a guest at Sophia’s blog today. I write mainly about the food I love to cook for my family which is growing every day – we got my husband, 1 year old son, a little girl that will be here in 4 months, 3 dogs and a partridge and a pear tree basically!

But today I am so thrilled to be sharing with you this Lemon Basil Olive Oil Cake. First you thing you should know about me is when I started my blog 4 years ago you probably couldn’t pay me to bake anything – unless it was a box mix or those premade cookies. One reason is I have a hard time following directions. I like to as you say ‘throw caution to the wind’ just a little bit in the kitchen.

Have you ever had an olive oil cake? The first time I did was actually when I walked into Sur La Table and they had samples being passed out. A few months later I decided to remake it. About a year later I am finally telling you about. Why a year later you might ask (see above if you have already forgotten). Like I said I don’t follow instructions, so I just decided to put however much flour, sugar, eggs, and other ingredients in to the cake as I pleased…end result the cake kept sinking…and no matter how many times I tried to do whatever I wanted it would fail.

But after a little research…okay a lot of research I think I perfected it! This moist cake has a lingering hint of citrus from the lemons and is balanced out by the sweet basil. Some of this research I did included looking into the variety of olive oils. Apparently the extra virgin olive oil can make the cake have a more distinguished fruity taste while a regular olive oil will make it lighter. I chose the latter, but the choice is yours!

Thank you so much for letting me visit with you today and sharing this recipe with you. Be sure to come over to the blog and say hi. Also thank you Sophia for being such a gracious host!

Recipe

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup olive oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons finely chopped basil
Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a Bundt pan with shortening then dust with flour.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a different bowl, combine lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, olive oil, eggs, vanilla, and salt.
Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients bowl. Add in the basil. Fold all the ingredients together to fully incorporate but be careful not to overmix.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cake cool before inverting onto a plate.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Notes: If your cake seems to stick to the Bundt pan use a rubber spatula to help loosen the edges.