Strawberry Basil Cake

I had some leftover strawberry puree from making my neapolitan cake and initially decided to make a strawberry cake as it was my favourite layer of the cake. I then got to thinking about what would pair well with strawberries and thought of my favourite herb basil. It's basically a sponge cake with pureed strawberry and basil mixed in. It was really aromatic and tasted amazing. It has a banana bread like texture and you can definitely taste the basil. Not too exciting to look at but absolutely delicious! I imagine it would be great served warm with a strawberry puree! 

I'm entering this to Javelin Warrior's Made with love Mondays where the idea is to make something from scratch. This is about as fresh as you can get. No artificial flavours or colours!

I'm also entering it to Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. Basil is my favourite herb and I've baked with it a few times now.

 blend fresh strawberries and basil leaves... 

... into a puree 

 bundt cakes always look good :) 

 You can just about see the flecks of strawberry and basil in the cake

An original recipe by bakingaddict

250g butter

270g sugar (I added a little bit more as strawberries are out of season and are slightly sour)

400g self raising flour

225g fresh strawberries

large handful of basil leaves

2 eggs

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Wash, hull and dry the strawberries.
• Blitz the strawberries with the fresh basil leaves into a puree. 
• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs one at a time.
• Mix in the flour.
• Add the strawberry basil puree and mix until well incorporated.
• Pour into a bundt tin ( or any cake tin) and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes or until well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.