At our house, we routinely have a big box of baby spinach leaves in the refrigerator. We add them to salads, smoothies, omelets, stir-fry, and more – but all savory things. We’ve never used spinach in a dessert before so when we heard that Catherine McCord, founder of the popular Weelicious brand and cookbook series, had this beautiful cake recipe that used spinach, we asked if we could share it with Real Food Traveler readers. The added perk, it’s the perfect dessert for all of your springtime celebrations from St. Patrick’s Day to Easter to, well, just because it’s spring! And it’s completely free of green dye. So, really, it’s practically health food when you think about it. 

Save this springy recipe to Pinterest. Photo courtesy of  Catherine McCord of Weelicious. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Spinach Smash Cake

Recipe courtesy of Weelicious

Ingredients for the Cake:
3 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 TBS + 1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
4 cups fresh spinach
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Spinach Buttercream Frosting:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature
6 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup fresh spinach
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation method for the Spinach Smash Cake:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

Hungry for more? If chocolate’s your thing, click here for our Sicilian Chocolate Cake recipe.

Frosting, ready to spread on the Spinach Smash Cake. Photo courtesy Weelicious.

Preparation for the Spinach Buttercream Frosting:
1. In a blender combine milk and spinach. Blend until well combined.
2. 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:
1. Cut off the very top of the cake to make all three layers even. (Editorial note: we recommend using a serrated knife, like a bread knife to make a clean cut)
2. 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.

Catherine McCord is the co-founder of meal delivery service One Potato and the founder of the popular Weelicious brand. A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, she has created online how-to videos that have amassed more than fifty million views and celebrities like Jennifer Garner, Sarah Michelle Gellar & Keri Glassman, RD, swear by her food as a medicine approach to healthy tonics. She has written three cookbooks including her latest Smoothie Project. 

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