I think people love the idea of desserts that are guilt-free and healthy (I know I do). I mean really, I can have my cake and eat it too! 
I love trying to come up with new ways to use up an over-abundance of ingredients we might have on hand. We have quite a few bags of kale waiting to be used, so naturally, I have been trying to come up with as many different ways to use kale as I can! Kale cake? Why not? There is zucchini cake and even spinach cake! So why not kale?
Others looked on skeptically as I was making this cake. Normally, I like to keep my ingredients a secret until after the dish has been tasted (you know, so I don’t scare anybody off). This time, though, I informed everyone that I was making a Kale Superfood Cake (and the green color is a bonus for St Patrick’s Day)! Kale, avocado, dates and pistachios are the “superfoods” I chose to include in the cake. I would suggest not telling anyone that this is a “Kale Cake,” but rather call it a pistachio or St Patrick’s Day cake. No one will guess that there is kale in there. I will admit, I was rather surprised at how good this cake turned out. The cake is extremely moist and studded with tiny bits of dates and chunks of pistachio. The batter is very lightly sweetened and slightly spiced. I topped the cake with the cashew sour cream frosting from my ebook. Now I am thinking of what else I can make with kale! Kale ice cream? Why not?
Recipe:
Dry:
- 2 cups white spelt flour (can use whole flour, but it will not be as “cakey”)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1/2 c chopped pistachios
Wet:
- 6 large medjool dates or 10 deglet or bhardi (about a cup not packed)
- 1/2 cup liquid sweetener (I used fruit sweetener)
- 1/2 cup mashed avocado (about 1 avocado)
- 2 cups packed washed and blanched kale
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup soft coconut oil
- 1/2 cup soy milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
In a bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together. In a food processer, process the first 6 wet ingredients until smooth. Add the soy milk mixture and process again. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix thourougly. Oil a 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish with coconut oil and dust flour evenly over the oil. Press the dough into the pan and bake at 350 F or 180 C for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan and let cool completely on a wire wrack. Cut cake in half diagonally and frost with the cashew sour cream frosting in my ebook, or leave cake whole and frost as is.
out of the oven
cut in half
decorating
Submitted to: Wellness Weekend
