Lemon Verbena Cake with a Blueberry Jam Glaze

I’m not typically a sweets person but every now and then I find the calling to get in the kitchen and bake. I love lemony desserts. When I saw the recipe for 'Olive Oil Cakes with Lemon and Thyme’ on the Pioneer Woman’s blog I couldn’t resist.

I’ve tried this recipe in a multitude of forms – mini muffins, regular muffins and cakes. My favorite for sure is the cake form. I’ve not had the greatest luck with making a cake from this recipe that looks perfect. The middle tends to fall. I’ve adapted the recipe with the addition of baking soda which seems to help somewhat. Either way, looks aside, every time I’ve made the recipe, in whichever form, it’s been very tasty and extremely moist! The moistness and intense flavor are the reasons I continue to experiment with this recipe. This recipe is also incredibly easy to make!

This time I made a cake and changed the recipe up with lemon verbena instead of thyme.

The lemon verbena herb variation is my favorite experiment because the herb intensifies the lemonyness. Is 'lemonyness' a word?

For a glaze, I spread a blueberry jam on top. The glaze completely compliments the intense lemon flavor.


Lemon Verbena Cake with a Blueberry Jam Glaze
1 tab of room temperature butter
1-⅓ cup Sugar
3 Tablespoons Grated Lemon Zest
2 whole Eggs
¼ cups Olive Oil
⅔ cups Whole Milk
1 cup Flour
½ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoons Salt
1 tablespoons of finely chopped lemon verbena

Glaze
½ cup of blueberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl whisk together the sugar and lemon zest. Whisk in the eggs, olive oil and milk. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisking the dry ingredients will serve as a sifting agent to eliminate clumps within the flour.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Avoid over mixing. Once the dry and wet ingredients have been combined, fold in the lemon verbena into the batter with a spatula.

Pour the cake mixture into a 9” cake pan. Bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes depending on your oven.

Allow to cool.

In a microwave, warm the jam for about 30 seconds. Drizzle over the cake and serve. Your guests will love this cake!