Spinach Cake I hear you all say, really, that must be disgusting surely. I must admit I too thought the same when I first came across this recipe.
Apparently Spinach Cake is a real cake and originates from Turkey where it is known as Ispanakli Kek. I came across this recipe via the newsletter that I receive from Blackberry Cottage a wonderful company who make cakes with ‘secret ingredients’ and they happen to be very local to where I live. Have a look at their website, there are some delicious cakes on there and if we can get everybody to eat a few more vegetables, even if they don’t realise they’re eating them, then we’re onto a winner!
The colour of this cake is intense, almost beautiful. I will say I was a little dubious about the cake and I think if I make it again I would probably add a little more vanilla extract or lemon as although the cake tasted pleasant enough, it did have a slightly strange taste to it – not a horrible taste, but a strange taste if you get what I mean … However, it must have been good as it has already gone and my son is the one who has probably eaten the majority of it and he was the one who asked if I was serious when I said I was going to make a Spinach Cake.
Ingredients
- 250g Spinach
- 180ml Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1.5 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 Large Eggs
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 220g Plain Flour
- 3 Tsp Baking Powder
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Whilst the oven is preheating, steam the spinach until soft and puree it until it is smooth and silky.
- Add the olive oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the spinach and puree again until well combined.
- Beat in the eggs and then the sugar, mixing well.
- In a separate bowl sieve together the flour and baking powder. Fold into the spinach mixture until well combined – make sure there aren’t any little lumps of unmixed flour.
- Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The top should be lightly browned.
- Leave in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Mix together some lemon juice and icing sugar to make a runny icing to drizzle over the top of the cake once it has cooled.
Self Raising Flower 