St Patrick’s Day is only a week away and this Spinach Smash Cake is on the menu! Have you ever seen a more beautiful green cake in your life? The best part is there are zero food dyes in it too.
For Gemma’s first birthday last year I made her two smash cake. One was this gorgeous Dye-Free Sprinkle Smash Cake and the other was this Spinach Smash Cake. I’ve never had so much fun making two cakes, especially knowing they were both dye-free.
I’m ok with a little sugar now and then, but dye’s in foods, especially for kids are something that don’t sit well with me especially when you can make such incredible treats with natural fruits and vegetables to color them like raspberries, beets and of course, spinach!
Even thought St Patrick’s day is around the corner and this is the perfect cake for a first birthday, you don’t need a holiday to enjoy it. The batter is surprisingly easy to make and is as vibrant when you make it as it is in this picture!
Photos by Matt Armendariz
Spinach Smash Cake
Ingredients
Spinach Smash Cake Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
- 6 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Spinach Smash Cake:
- Position the rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat the insides of 3-6 inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray, line bottoms with parchment paper rounds, then spray parchment.
- Whisk together sifted flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl to combine. Set aside. In a blender, combine milk, egg whites and spinach, blend until well combined and smooth. Set aside.
- Beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add sugar gradually and beat until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla.
- Add flour mixture in three additions, alternately with the milk-spinach mixture, while beating on low speed. Begin and end with flour, and beat briefly until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into layers shows a few moist crumbs when removed. The layers will be a light golden brown around the edges and top and will have come away from the sides of the pans.
- Cool the pans on a wire rack for 8-10 minutes. Unmold, peel off the parchment, and place the layers directly on the racks to cool completely.
Spinach Buttercream Frosting
- In a blender combine milk and spinach. Blend until well combined.
- In a large bowl, with an electric mixer or a stand- mixer on medium-high, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add one cup of sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Add remaining sugar, milk-spinach mixture, vanilla and beat on high until silky smooth.
To assemble the cake:
- Cut off the very top of the cake to make all three layers even.
- Place on 6 inch cake on a platter and spread 1/3 cup of the frosting. Top with another 6 inch cake and spread 1/3 cup frosting. Top with remaining 6 inch cake and use remaining frosting to cover the cake.
- Note: The Spinach Smash Cake can sit at room temperature for 24 hours, refrigerate for 3 days or cakes can be individually wrapped and frozen up to 3 months.
Can I reduce the amount of sugar in the cake?
Here in Asia, we have screwpine leaves (pandan, as we call it) that gives out a very nice green colour & flavourful aroma. something u can use as a substitute to spinach if u’re not too keen on having a cake taste like a vege *lol*
I am so intrigued by this and want to try it. It’s a beautiful green color. Is the spinach prominent in taste?