A little twist to the traditional lemon cake. Spruce up your holiday table and serve this olive oil lemon cake with basil and pomegranate. Find more of my pomegranate recipes.
Since I wrote an olive oil cookbook, I’m obviously a big fan of that green stuff! I fry with olive oil and cook with olive oil all the time. I even shared with you cocktails with olive oil. But my favorite method, by far, is to bake with olive oil.
I have already shared with you my recipe for vanilla olive oil cake. This is a standard vanilla cake that I use for my kids birthdays.
My family’s second favorite olive oil cake is this lovely lemon loaf cake.
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Why this recipe works
- Easy: If you need a quick loaf cake to bake for last minute guests or tea with this friends, this is a super easy cake to bake!
- Texture: The yogurt makes the loaf cake oh so tender, fluffy and incredibly moist. And it stays moist and full of flavor for up to a week!
- Flavor: This bright and lemony cake is baked with fresh basil, giving wonderful herbal notes.
- Simple Yet Elegant: Glazed with a lemony drizzle and garnished with pomegranate, pistachios, basil and lemon zest, it’s a gorgeous cake with minimal effort!
Ingredients you need
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- Extra virgin olive oil: I bake almost exclusively with olive oil. Choose a mild flavored oil and NOT a peppery one. You can also use a lemon infused olive oil for more lemony flavor.
- Greek yogurt: Baking with yogurt yields a very moist cake. If you do not have plain yogurt, use sour cream.
- Eggs: When it comes to baking, it is standard to use large eggs.
- Lemons: You will use the juice and zest from lemons, both in the cake, in the icing and as a garnish.
- Fresh basil: You can also use fresh mint or rosemary. Fresh has more flavor and impact than dried, so please try to find fresh herbs. You can also skip it if you want.
- Garnish: Pomegranate arils and chopped pistachios.
- Pantry staples: All purpose flour, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Step-by-step directions
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- Combine wet ingredients. Mix together sugar, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and eggs until combined.
- Add dry ingredients. In a another bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this flour mixture and basil into yogurt mixture and stir until combined.
- Bake. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before adding glaze.
- Glaze. Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the cake and garnish with pomegranate arils, chopped pistachios, grated lemon zest and chopped basil.
Recipe tips and FAQs
It might sound strange, but adding herbs to desserts is not at all unheard of. And I’m talking about going beyond mint. I made a delicious grape upside down cake made with rosemary. So for this olive oil lemon cake, I chose to use basil.
Besides this olive oil lemon loaf cake, you should try my blueberry lemon bars. And if you don’t want to bake with butter, you should definitely try buttery lemon tea cake, my creamy olive oil lemon curd or my lemon blueberry muffins.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: You can store leftovers in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Wrap in foil, parchment paper or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 4 months.
Baking with oil not only yields a moist muffin, scone or cake, but it can also add flavor, depending on the flavor of your olive oil. I regularly bake with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. Choose a mild flavored oil for cakes, or an infused oil to add more flavor.
The acid in both buttermilk and yogurt helps the leavening and create a light and fluffy dessert. It also adds moisture and makes a delicious cake.
Olive Oil Lemon Cake with Basil and Pomegranate
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 large eggs
- Grated zest from 1 lemon
- ⅓ cup finely chopped fresh basil
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup pomegranate arils
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios
- ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Apply non-stick spray to one 9-inch round cake pan or a 9-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix together sugar, yogurt, olive oil, ¼ cup lemon juice, lemon zest, and eggs until combined.
- In batches, mix flour mixture into yogurt mixture and stir until combined.
- Stir in ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil and then pour mixture into prepared cake pan.
- Place the cake in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place the cake on a cooling rack, and let it cool for at least 30 minutes prior to serving.
- For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar with 2 teaspoon lemon juice until smooth.
- Drizzle glaze over the cake prior to serving.
- Garnish cake with pomegranate arils, 1 tablespoon finely chopped pistachios and ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
beautiful cake…especially with those red pomegranate dotting the top…it looks perfectly tempting and scrumptious,thanks for sharing 🙂
I ant stop staring at that fab cake and the even better picture. Would not have thought to put lemon and basil together in a cake. On my super yum list.
This sounds sooo good I love the combo! I’ve actually been looking for an indoor herb garden tool because I can’t’ seem to keep anything alive outside
Looks heavenly! I love adding herbs to my baked goods.
I love lemon cakes and this is so pretty with the pomegranate topping!
Pomegranates! Love them and their little bursts of flavor. Great picture too. 🙂
Wow Laura, this cake is absolutely stunning – and so beautifully festive! I’m struggling to get my butt out and go shopping for gifts right now. I blame it on being busy (it’s true) and it being too cold outside (even truer). Maybe I’ll just bake everybody a loaf of this and call it a day ;).
Oh yum, I love the addition of pomegranate, works so well with the lemon and transforms the cake into something very special.
The airo garden is a super cool idea. Need to show that my mum, she will love it. Do they have gardens like that for the heavy humid rainy season? That would be too cool because fragile colder climate plants don’t like high humidity.
btw I feel the same way about giving gifts. The thought counts.
Oh my goodness, how gorgeous is this! And such a great combination of flavors and colors, too. Bravo!
Glad I’m not the only one who still has names to cross off the shopping list. I can never seem to finish until just a few days for Christmas. On another note, I love, love this cake. It’s not only gorgeous but the flavor combinations are wonderful. My herbs are done for the season so maybe I should look into the AeroGarden. I bet it’s fun to see the herbs grow!
You always have beautiful recipes using pomegranate! This cake looks so beautiful!!! And I love that basil is in the cake! I have never tried that before! Sounds really delicious!
This is absolutely gorgeous!!
What an amazing indoor garden! Your cake on the other hand is more than amazing!
Wonderful indoor garden. maybe my black thumb will turn green. GREG
Simply gorgeous lemon cake and I love all the flavors you’ve got going on here! Normally my hubby sounds a bit like yours in the gift giving department, but after he surprised me this past weekend w/ my wine tasting trip to Temecula, ALL is forgiven 🙂
I love the lemon/basil combination… and the addition of pomegranate is just exquisite! My man and I have decided not to buy too much for each other, as we really need to downsize nowadays! Happy Christmas to you and yours and thank you for a great recipe!
Lemon and basil? And pomegranate? Lovely combo! Great cake, and that indoor garden thingy looks way cool. Mrs K R and I have gotten to the point where we don’t exchange gifts anymore – neither one of us wants more stuff, and anything we do want we just buy anyway. We do exchange small things – it’s fun to shop for each other! – but really just fun little trinkets. Anyway, fun post – thanks.
Two things:
1. I can’t stop staring at this stunning cake. It reminds me of the very delicate, lavishly decorated glass Christmas ornaments in those fancy boutiques. Seriously gorgeous!
2. After reading all the AeroGarden posts, I’m totally tempted to ask for one for Christmas. I love gardening, so the thought of doing it all winter (without dirt & weeds aka me making a mess) is super appealing.
3. (okay so I lied about it only being two things) I love lemon + herbs in sweet things, so I need to try this cake!
You are so sweet, Kelly! Thank you! I have to say, growing these herbs was a no brainer. Especially when you are busy and tell yourself all the time, “I’ll water the plants tomorrow” and never do. These babies would be dead if they were in the traditional pot!