Oh my god, it’s green! 🙂 It’s green, fluffy and full of fruit… and spinach. Yes, spinach. I wouldn’t expect spinach to be a part of a cake, but when you think about it, why not? When we can use carrots, beetroot, courgettes, pumpkins… why couldn’t we use spinach? So the cake is called forest moss because it looks like fairies from a forest made it 😀 I was planning it for a while, but I kept postponing it for a perfect moment. I wanted wild berries from the forest. You can of course use any kind of fruit, but if you have a chance, don’t hesitate to use wild blueberries, because the taste and the colour are exceptional 🙂
Just to let you know, I had to go for a hike to obtain the berries. It’s more than 2 hours walking up the hill (picking raspberries on the way), then 2 hours of picking blueberries (fighting flies, wasps, ants and other dangerous animals) and going back. This year I completely underestimated the situation, because although it wasn’t sunny, the sun found a way through the clouds and I came back with sunburns. I also forgot I am not 20 anymore and that I spent last 4 months at home in lockdown 😀
But the cake definitely made me feel better 🙂 Here’s how you make it:
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 70 minutes + decorating
Ingredients:
- 120g fresh spinach
- 5 eggs – divided
- 120ml vegetable oil
- 200g granulated sugar
- 130g gluten free flour (I used Doves Farm)
- 130g almond flour
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- berries
For the cream:
- 300ml fresh cream
- 300g mascarpone
- icing sugar
Before you start baking
- This amount is for 22 cm cake form. The final cake will be smaller though – the beauty of this cake is in the green colour and that’s visible only when you cut off the edges. So I baked it in the the form of 22 cm and then used a slightly smaller form to cut the cake. Keep the edges to make small crumbs for the top.
- I used quite a lot of cream and mascarpone because I love the cream and I also decided to make some extra decorating for the top. If you prefer only small layer of cream, you don’t have to go that crazy 🙂
- Berries – as I said, I used the ones I got in the forest. They are not as sweet so there is a contrast with the cream and cake. They also have more colour. But whatever fruit you use, I’m sure it’s gonna fit beautifully.
Let’s bake it!
- First wash the spinach a let it dry (or help the drying process using a kitchen towel).
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare the cake form – line the bottom of it with baking parchment.
- Place spinach and half of the oil into a food processor and mix it until smooth.
- Divide eggs into yolks and whites. Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add the other half of oil, vanilla extract and then gradually whisk in the dry ingredients – flour with baking powder and almond flour.
- Now it’s spinach time – pour the spinach paste into the mixture and combine. It’s gonna have a fresh green colour 🙂
- In another bowl, start whipping the egg whites. First on lower speed, and when it becomes “foamy”, gradually add the other half of sugar, increase the speed and whip until firm.
- With a spatula, gently and carefully combine the two mixtures together. The result will be a light green colour batter. Pour the batter into the cake form, even the surface and place in the preheated oven.
- Bake 20 minutes, than lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for about 50 minutes more, depending on your oven. The cake will rise and will be slightly brown/golden on the top.
- Let the cake cool down on a cooling rack and cut it in two slices. The colour really surprised me, it really didn’t look green at all on the top! It made me so happy 😀 You also have to cut off the edges of the cake, so it looks green from the sides, and you might need to level the top too.
- When the cake cools down completely, prepare the cream and fruit. Put the berries in a bowl and mash them a bit. Not completely, just a bit so they release some juice.
- In another bowl, beat mascarpone, cream and few spoons of sugar (depending on your taste). Spread the cream on the first half of the cake, add berries and cover with the other half of the cake.
- Spread more cream over the top of the cake. Sprinkle evenly with cake crumbs made of the parts you had cut off. It’s gonna resemble forest moss 🙂 Decorate with berries.
I added some more cream decorations on the top. The same way I made strawberry cream for strawberry cupcakes, I made blueberry cream for this cake. I processed freeze dried blueberries in food processor to create blueberry powder and I mixed it in the mascarpone cream. It was delicious 🙂
That’s it!
Another good thing about this cake is that it’s suitable for any occasion. It could be really good even as a birthday cake or unusual wedding cake. You can check a short video on my instagram, it shows how nicely fluffy the sponge is.
I’d be really happy to hear any feedback or questions! 🙂
Best Baker in Town 