Spring is finally here! I don’t know if it’s just me but this winter seemed way too long. I was craving some sunshine so badly, and this weekend the sun is finally out! And just as I started to wear a t-shirt and my sunglasses, I wanted this week’s cake to match my current spring mood.
This bright green spinach and pistachio cake makes you want to go outside, hop on your bike or go for a run in the spring sun! The cake is vegan although that’s not why I like it so much. The pistachios and the almond extract give it an almost marzipan-y flavor. And the spinach adds a bright green color and some extra nutrients. It’s super moist and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.
I know, buying unshelled pistachios is expensive and peeling them is a pain. That’s why I tried to replace half of the pistachios with blanched almonds. And I am happy to report that it still tastes great. The color of the cake turns out a little bit brighter r (the cake in the pictures has 50% almonds) but if you are baking on a lower budget, it’s a great alternative!
This cake is a real crowd-pleaser. Bake it for your family or friends and spread the joy of spring!
Is green your favorite color? Then try this green smoothie bowl or these spinach pancakes. Or check out my other vegan cake recipes like these walnut fig bars.
Love,
Marion
Spinach Pistachio Cake
April 8, 2018
: 10
: 20 min
: 30 min
: 50 min
: easy
A moist and flavorful vegan cake that brings color to your life!
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 160g unsalted pistachios (or sub half of it for blanched almonds)
- 30g fresh spinach
- 60g coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract (or a few drops of Backaroma)
- 100g coconut sugar (or organic cane sugar)
- 300ml almond milk (or any other plant-based milk) at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 180g flour (I used spelt flour)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- For the topping (optional):
- 20g pistachios, roughly chopped
- 120 g icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a pound cake tin with coconut oil.
- Step 2 Place pistachios in a food processor and pulse until flour-like consistency.
- Step 3 Add coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract, spinach, sugar, and 180ml of almond milk and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Step 4 In a large bowl, mix 120ml of almond milk with the apple cider vinegar.
- Step 5 In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Step 6 Add the spinach mixture and the dry ingredients to the apple cider milk and fold in gently.
- Step 7 Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Step 8 Remove from the oven and let cool completely before taking it out from the tin.
- Step 9 For the topping mix icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice until smooth and drizzle over the cooled cake and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
I made your Spinach Pistachio Cake. I added a pomegranate icing and topped with fresh pomegranates. I also used a “flax egg” in the batter. The cake is delish!!!!!!You cannot even taste the spinach in it but are getting the benefits of it.
Nancy, a pomegranate icing sounds awesome! And I assume the flex egg gave it a little more stability?! So happy that you liked the recipe!
too many paper requires to print this recipe sadly I stopped at the second page,
Emanuela, I‘m so sorry that you weren’t able to print it properly. Seems like there is something wrong with the printing functionality on my site. I‘ll check immediately and hope to fix it soon. I hope you can still start baking. Love, Marion
Made it yestarday and it doesn’t look at all like in you picture. It wasn’t green even though I only used pistachios. Also the cake barely raised at all being hard (too dense). Sorry you mislead people with your recipes (as I didn’ t make any adjustments).
Hi Andreea, I‘m so sorry the cake didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. Regarding the green color I‘m surprised. The spinach should give a nice green color. I tried it both with fresh as well as frozen and defrosted spinach. As to the rising, it might be that you overmixed the dough? It’s crucial that you only mix the dough so it just comes together. The apple cider vinegar creates bubbles when getting in touch with the flour and the other ingredients which makes the dough rise in the oven. Also, you should immediately place it in the pre-heated oven. I hope this helps! Again, apologies you were disappointed. Love, Marion
The cake does work and is very tasty. Although not vegan, an egg or maybe yogurt might help it be more cohesive. My cake rose well and looks like the photo shown.
Thanks Sally. So happy you liked the cake!
Hi Sally, I am happy you liked the cake. Did you have issues with consistency?
H Marion,
I tried this recipe and it also did not come out green, even the butter mixture was brown to start with despite adding more fresh spinach.
Did you use coconut sugar ? As I think that is what makes cake mixture brown …
Also you should mention that the milk needs to be at room temperature when mixing with coconut oil as it hardens otherwise.
Hi Zoya,
So sorry to hear that the cake didn’t come out green. I will check if it is because of the coconut sugar.
Great call out regarding the milk – I’ll add that to the recipe.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Marion, I tried this recipe. Turned out well, will definitely try it again. I used normal white sugar and I got a good green color from the pistachio and spinach. Also would be great if you could share the loaf/cake tin size you used.
hi
yesterday i baked it for the first time
it came out brown and not green and i think it wasnt sweet enough maybe the spelt flour wasnt the right one to use i used whole spelt flour, coconut sugar like in the recipe