- Makes 12 cupcakes - Ready in 1 hour -
*uses up 2 - 3 large handfuls (100g) of FRESH NOT FROZEN spinach leaves *
N.B. for a gluten-free version, simply replace the plain flour with gluten-free plain flour AND add an extra egg to the recipe. You will need to have 3 or 4 extra cases ready as these amendments increase the mixture quantity slightly. Also the mixture is runnier so the chocolate chunks need sprinkling into the shared-out cake batter by hand, as they tend to sink to the bottom of the mixing bowl making equal sharing of them tricky otherwise. Baking time remains the same.
These (sweet NOT savoury) cupcakes are just so unbelievably GREEN! They require no food colouring to achieve this hue, just a lot of spinach! Luckily they don't actually taste of spinach. The cupcake mixture (without the chocolate chunks) translates well into a large cake, topped with mascarpone - here is the link to my 'Spinach and Mascarpone Cake' recipe - mmmm!
Gather together…
100g FRESH NOT FROZEN spinach leaves, about 2-3 large handfuls (with any large stalks removed and discarded before weighing). They can be large or small leaves, but they must be fresh NOT frozen. Supermarket bagged spinach works just as well as picked-from-the-garden leaves.
2 medium eggs.
1/4 cup (32g) of olive oil / rapeseed oil.
3/4 cup (170g) of white sugar (white granulated or white caster - either is fine), sieved.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (the Taylor & Colledge brand is fairtrade certified / the Dr Oetker brand is alcohol free).
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (I keep slices of lemon in the freezer to use as ice cubes in drinks - so I just defrost three frozen slices in the microwave and use the juice squeezed from them).
1 cup (120g) plain flour (sieved).
1.5 tsp baking powder (sieved).
1/4 tsp salt.
1/2 cup (75g) of cooking chocolate (milk or dark), cut up into small-ish chunks, 'Cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly. Or you could use chocolate chips, but they almost always come in small quantities in plastic packaging.
Serve with...
24 x edible sugar craft eyes (available in packs of 50 eyeballs from these Supermarkets, or Amazon or from Hobbycraft) to decorate OR use Smarties with a dot of melted chocolate added to the centre of each (you'll need 2-3 cardboard tubes of Smarties unless you can cope with non-matching eye colour pairs).
Get cooking…
1. Get out a 12-hole cupcake bun tin, and line the holes with cupcake cases. I have reusable silicone cupcake cases (5cm diameter at the base and 2.5cm deep) which brilliantly stop bakes from sticking and can be re-used for years (but they do need washing and drying VERY well after use), if you know you won't care for re-usable cases properly then you can get unbleached, compostable 'If You Care' baking cases, the 'large' size cases fit standard baking tins.
2. Wash the 100g of fresh spinach really well (unless it is labelled 'ready to eat'), drain in a colander and squeeze out the excess water, then pat dry with an old (clean) tea towel.
3.Put the spinach in a deep-sided large jug and add the 2 medium eggs and the 1/4 cup of oil, and blitz really well for 1 - 2 minutes, until so there are no obvious bits of spinach leaf visible - this helps to release the vivid green colour of the leaves.
4.Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
5. To the bright green liquid, sieve in the 3/4 cup of white caster / granulated sugar. Also add the 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and the 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice. Stir well to combine, for about 1 minute with a metal / wooden spoon.
6. Sieve in the 1 cup of plain flour, the 1.5 tsp of baking powder and the 1/4 tsp of salt. Add the 75g of chopped-up-into-chunks cooking chocolate (milk or dark). Stir to just combine - don't over-mix at this point or the cupcakes will be tough once baked. If any chocolate pieces are too near the surface poke them down under the batter - unless you don't mind having 'warty' monsters!
7. Spoon the batter-like runny mixture into the 12 cupcake cases, don't over-fill them - 2/3 full is ideal.
8. Bake for 18 minutes (DON'T open the door to check on them!) and then test by seeing if they spring back when the top is poked. If not bake for a minute or so more, but don't over-bake them!
9. Allow the cupcakes to cool in their cases on a wire rack for 10 minutes then gently push two edible eyes into the top of each cupcake (so they don't fall off!) ONLY put eyes onto the cakes you will eat on the day you made them - the eyes start to 'melt' if left on the cakes overnight! REMOVE the candy eyes if a very young child is going to eat a cupcake - all small and hard sweets pose a choking hazard.
10. Enjoy your spooky treats!
11. These are best eaten fresh, on the day of baking, as the next day they are a bit sticky on top and the candy eyes tend to start to run / melt. The cakes still taste yummy though, they just don't look as good.
This recipe was adapted into cupcakes from the 'Spinach Cake' recipe, on the gorgeous 'When Feta Met Olive' website.