Lemon Basil Cake

Good morning! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  The weather outside was beautiful! Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about the inside of my house.  It was like an oven! Hot, hot and very hot.

Regardless of the temperature, I was still in a baking mood.  I generally prefer baking from scratch but there are those days when you just don’t want to be bothered with a ton of measuring.  Think about all those dishes and clean-ups!

I took a box of vanilla cake mix (you know it’s a good one when you can see all the specks of vanilla beans in the cake) and added basil and lemon zest so it wouldn’t be so boring.  Served this with some homemade vanilla cinnamon whipped cream, some raspberries and blueberries —it was delicious! I know it may sound strange adding basil but it really worked in this recipe.  Now aren’t you intrigued to give this one a try? Go for it! You won’t regret it.

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Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of canola oil
• 1 cup of cold milk
• 1 (16 ounce) box of vanilla cake mix (I used Trader Joe’s)
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup of fresh basil, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

Using a stand or electric mixer (or mix by hand) mix together eggs, canola oil and milk.  Add vanilla cake mix.  Continue to mix until batter is smooth.  Stir in lemon zest and basil.  Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-43 minutes or until toothpick/tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool completely before cutting into the pan.  When serving, top with whipped cream, blueberries and raspberries.

Source: Cooking with Trader Joe’s