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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Turkish Lemon Spinach Cake


Congratulations if you are still reading this blog.
You saw the words "lemon" and "spinach" in the same title and kept going. I probably would not have done that.
I probably would have thought....Eeew... lemon spinach cake...yuck.
That being said....I bet you are wondering how I happened to make this cake given my disposition to abandon recipes that contain the words spinach and lemon. 
One word.
Pinterest.
Yes...I saw this on Pinterest whilst searching out new St. Patrick's Day ideas. When I saw it the title was simply "St. Patrick's Day Cake" - thus I was fooled into checking it out.
Good thing I was.
This is a delicious cake. Very moist and, most importantly, non-spinach tasting. It just tastes like a lemon cake.
A moist, delicious, lemon cake.
I am happy I stepped outside my comfort zone and tried this. It is a keeper!



Turkish Lemon Spinach Cake
(Adapted from Mom! What's for dinner )

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
 8 cups fresh spinach (you need about 1 cup puree)
1/2 cup olive oil
juice and zest from 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup lemon juice)
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Line with parchment paper and then spray parchment paper again with the cooking spray. (Fold the excess parchment paper over the sides to form handles)
Remove stems from spinach. Puree spinach in food processor until liquidy (consistency of baby food). This takes FOREVER so be patient! (I think it took me about 15 - 20 minutes)
In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add vanilla, oil, lemon juice and rind, and pureed spinach until well blended.
In a different bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined.

Ooooh, funky color!

Pour into prepared pan.
Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. Use parchment paper handles to lift cake out of pan.
Top with whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. (I used cream cheese frosting)

Easy Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 - 8 oz brick cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 -3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Beat cream cheese and butter together in medium sized bowl. Add vanilla, mix well. Slowly beat in icing sugar until spreadable consistency.
Spread on cooled cake.
(For the above photos I kept the icing quite thin - more like a thick glaze than a frosting)

You can also make them into cupcakes if you prefer:



Or even teeny tiny cupcakes:


I hope you give this a try.
If you are looking for a great green recipe for St. Patrick's Day that doesn't involve food coloring - this is the one for you.
 

Be sure to visit Carole's Chatter for some fun links!

17 comments:

  1. very attractive and pretty...and you can tell that is moist...yum.

    I got that color quite by accident in my pancakes. I put in some ground sunflower seeds and the leftover pancakes I put in the fridge, and the next day the insides were very green. I know when you cook sunflower seeds the water can turn quite green. My grandparents immigrated from Ireland and i still have cousins back there, so St. Patricks is meaningful for me

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    1. I have never heard of sunflower seeds turning things green...weird, but very interesting. Thanks Fay :)

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  2. Beautiful! Love how festive it looks! Glad you took the chance to try my cake and liking it makes me so happy!:)

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    1. Thank you for sharing the recipe! It was great :)

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  3. have you ever tried making this recipe with thawed, squeezed out, frozen spinach instead?

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    1. I'm afraid I haven't. I've only ever used fresh. Please let us know how it works for you if you do try it! :)

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  4. I made this cake last night. It came out fine, The frosting was super good, but the cake didn't taste like lemon. I used all the ingredients and even added a little extra lemon juice beacuse I love lemon and wanted a stronger taste. However, I couldn't taste the lemon at all. I don't know what I did wrong. Do you?

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    1. Hmmm... I'm not sure why it didn't taste lemony for you. I always find it very lemony. It could be a person taste - thing. You could always try adding a bit more zest and lemon juice.

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  5. Thank you, I made this recipe to bring into my workplace today - tastes like lemon! Love it! Decorated also with spinach dyed decorator sugar!

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  6. Hi Jo and Sue! I am so glad you love it as much as we do! Looks fantastic!
    Just thought I would mention the link above does not directly take you to the cake recipe, if you can please add this instead http://momwhats4dinner.com/spinach-cake/, much appreciated.
    To answer the question above, fresh spinach should only be used with this recipe for best results. I did have a fan try frozen and it didn't work out. Thanks again. ~Donika

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    1. Of course, we will fix that right away! Sorry about that. :)

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  7. Good Evening Jo and Sue, No I did not run at the mention of spinach and lemon.... I was intrigued as I have never used spinach when baking a cake.... carrots, yes, spinach no. I am really looking forward to baking this cake as it will be a fun talking point when finished.
    Thank you for an intriguing recipe.
    Best Wishes
    Daphne

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Daphne! We hope you enjoy the cake. It is a fun and tasty version of a lemon cake that definitely gets people talking :)

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  8. Wow. I may just have to try this...perfect for St. Patricks Day! Visiting from the Required Ingredient Recipe Link Party.

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  9. I made this cake today and love it. Only adjustment I would make for next time is to make ordinary lemon icing as I found the cream cheese frosting too sweet and rich. Lovely recipe and well worth making. Thank you.

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