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Chocolate Spinach Cake

January 23, 2014 by predominantlypaleo 38 Comments

 

Very few people truly get enough plant based foods on any given day.  It is something we all strive for but with busy schedules and other circumstances, most of us fall short.  This chocolate spinach cake has TWO cups of fresh organic baby spinach leaves baked right into the moist chocolatey goodness.  I’d say that makes a great “treat” for finicky kids and grown-ups alike!

The texture of this cake is fantastic and the spinach is undetectable. I have not tried it with other greens so I’ll leave the experimentation to you! I did use a 7×10.5″ baking pan for this one, but it also makes perfectly delicious cupcakes if you want to go that route.

Ingredients:

  • 5 eggs
  • 2 cups fresh organic baby spinach
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour + 1 tablespoon
  • 1/2 cup arrowroot flour + 1 tablespoon (tapioca works too)
  • 1/3 cup organic cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cup local raw honey or maple
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 teaspoons cooking fat of choice (butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon organic gluten free vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened flax, almond, or coconut milk
  • Optional: one handful of dairy free chocolate chips
  1. preheat oven to 350
  2. combine all ingredients into vitamix or substantial blender
  3. blend until batter is a smooth consistency with no chunks or visible leaves
  4. pour into greased cake pan (i use coconut oil to grease)
  5. optional: after 10 minutes of baking, sprinkle chocolate chips on top of cake and continue baking
  6. bake for 20 minutes, check to see if center is done, then bake for another 5. continue checking in 5 minute intervals as some ovens vary (mine was done in 25 minutes total)
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Filed Under: baked goods, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, nut free, refined sugar free, soy free, treats

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Comments

  1. Donna says

    August 17, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    What kind of sauce did you put on the top of your sliced cake? (2nd to last picture) Thanks! Can’t WAIT to try this!!

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      August 17, 2014 at 8:36 pm

      It’s a caramel sauce made with coconut milk and maple sugar!

      Reply
  2. Karin says

    August 21, 2014 at 7:38 pm

    I think we need the caramel sauce recipe too please! That looks reeeeeeeally good. I made these today as cupcakes for the kids. They were dense, fudgey, and terrific! What a great after school snack.

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      August 22, 2014 at 1:36 pm

      Awesome, glad you enjoyed them! For the caramel sauce I use full fat coconut milk and mix in a saucepan with coconut sugar. I don’t have the exact measurements but it only takes those two ingredients and a pinch of salt and vanilla!

      Reply
  3. Marilyn says

    April 3, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    what size cake pan did you use? thanks.

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      April 4, 2015 at 8:00 pm

      Hi Marilyn, I believe I used an 11×7 pan. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Marilyn says

        September 30, 2015 at 5:08 am

        Thank you for taking the time to reply… M.

        Reply
  4. Jan says

    January 18, 2016 at 8:30 pm

    Will my Cuisinart food processor work for this instead of a blender?

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      January 19, 2016 at 7:23 pm

      Yes that should work great!

      Reply
      • Jan says

        January 19, 2016 at 10:37 pm

        Cool, thanks! Can’t wait to try it.

        Reply
  5. Nicky Roberts says

    January 19, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    Hi Marilyn, I can really stuff my face with this cake!! However we follow a low carb diet and cannot use arrow root flower , what can I use in stead of arrow root. Could one use ground chia seeds in stead ? Many thanks for posting your recipes , kind regards from Sunny South Africa,

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      January 19, 2016 at 7:23 pm

      Am I Marilyn? If so 😉 I don’t think chia seeds would work. Maybe try almond flour instead if you can tolerate nuts, it would be a better fit. Chia seeds tend to get gummy!

      Reply
      • Nicky Roberts says

        January 20, 2016 at 3:08 pm

        Sorry for using the incorrect name Jennifer, I was reading previous posts on your page that a “Marilyn” had posted 🙂 . Thanks for your comment , I also thought that the chia seeds might become too gelish in consistency. I’m definitely going to try the almond flour. Many thanks xx

        Reply
        • predominantlypaleo says

          January 21, 2016 at 8:18 pm

          Hope you enjoy it!! No worries about the name, sometimes people comment on other reader’s comments so I was just double checking!

          Reply
  6. Naomi Hovey says

    January 22, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    Would frozen spinach work?

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      January 23, 2016 at 5:39 pm

      Yes but make sure you get all the excess water out and maybe reduce the amount since it is condensed.

      Reply
  7. cherylee says

    January 29, 2016 at 5:01 am

    I know you are primarily paleo but I want to make this for a potluck with the spinach from our garden. How much flour can I use instead of the coconut and arrowroot?

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      January 29, 2016 at 1:58 pm

      Hi Cherylee, I haven’t worked with regular flour in years so I am not sure! But I would say you could probably sub out the arrowroot for regular flour and then add a big more until it feels like cake batter. Hope that helps!

      Reply
      • cherylee says

        January 30, 2016 at 3:38 am

        Thanks for replying! I am making this tomorrow for our community garden group and gluten free is much more expensive to cook with, as you know. And unappreciated. We have LOTS of spinach right now and this seems a great way to get the children (and chocoholics) to eat more. I will post how it goes. I may just use the almond powder instead.

        Thanks for sharing your journey and so many good recipes. Very much appreciated.

        Reply
  8. cherylee says

    February 2, 2016 at 4:29 am

    I made these with flour instead. It took about 2 cups to make a cake batter. They were much like a dense sponge cake with so many eggs. But I sliced the cake in half and filled it with whipping cream. They were a HUGE hit and most adults were excited they were spinach brownies. I like them but plan to make them soon as written. I don’t have arrowroot and use the flax seed instead.

    I give this recipe a thumbs up if you want to get more spinach in the diet of a picky eater. Or if you are like me you just like to make crazy healthy food with fun ingredients that people have to guess the secret ingredient!

    Reply
  9. Lindsay says

    February 8, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    Just made these a second time with a few changes. I melted the chocolate chips and used coffee instead of milk and they have much more chocolate flavour. And I also added 1 more tbsp. of sugar. They are GREAT!!

    Reply
    • Jennifer says

      January 24, 2017 at 11:19 pm

      Did you replace the almond milk completely with coffee? I really want to try your changes? Sorry I am new to this changing recipes.

      Reply
      • predominantlypaleo says

        January 25, 2017 at 2:03 am

        I can’t say 100% but it sounds like she did sub coffee completely for the almond milk. Sounds good doesn’t it?

        Reply
      • Lindsay Campbell says

        February 25, 2018 at 7:54 pm

        I did replace the whole amount of milk with coffee.

        Reply
  10. Julie says

    June 2, 2016 at 5:05 am

    How do these freeze? Thanks!

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      June 2, 2016 at 1:02 pm

      It should freeze well but I actually have never done so before – it goes so quickly!

      Reply
      • Julie says

        June 2, 2016 at 6:26 pm

        Thank you for the quick reply! We are heading to the beach in a week and wanted to take some!

        Reply
  11. Whitney says

    September 20, 2016 at 2:46 am

    Hi! I am doubting the possibility, but is there anything I can do to omit the eggs? Thanks!

    Reply
  12. Paula says

    September 21, 2016 at 3:25 am

    Mmmmm, I mafe brownies with frozen spinach for my son’s preschool class but that was 18 years ago! ? The kids had no idea and the preschool teacher loved them!

    Reply
  13. Laurel says

    October 20, 2016 at 4:11 am

    Tried it tonight substituting baby kale for spinach and it turned out great. Everyone liked the spongy texture and size of the cake was perfect. Not too many dangerous leftovers 😉 Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      October 25, 2016 at 1:33 am

      Yay! That’s great to hear!

      Reply
  14. Sarah says

    March 31, 2018 at 8:42 pm

    With the fresh spinach, is it a tightly packed cup? Or could you provide the number of ounces, if weighing ingredients. I prefer to do that when I bake for consistency of recipes for breads and cakes.

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      March 31, 2018 at 8:49 pm

      Not too tight, it shouldn’t make a big difference but I’d say two heaping cups not packed tight will work just fine!

      Reply
  15. Elise says

    November 26, 2018 at 1:24 am

    What can I sub for coconut flour I have a sensitivity, could I use banana flour or pumpkin flour?

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      December 1, 2018 at 11:00 pm

      I haven’t used those others before, tigernut would probably work.

      Reply
  16. Ashley says

    August 28, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Absolutely love this recipe. I make it about once a week and even made it for my son’s birthday and served it with coconut icing to non-paleo family and they all loved it too! It’s so easy and yummy!

    This is also a really flexible recipe! In case anyone else is curious about substitutions, I always use Pamela’s gluten-free flour to sub in place of the coconut/arrowroot flour because that’s just what I keep on hand and it’s still a good 1-1 sub. I’ve also used goat milk, heavy cream, and locally-sourced pasture-raised cow milk — all work great. And I’ve tried it with fresh super green mix, and frozen spinach. I like the fresh super-green salad mix flavor the best, but it’s easier sometimes to just use the frozen spinach, plus I think the flash-frozen spinach keeps more of its nutrients than the fresh salad mixes. Hope that helps anyone else who was wondering if this recipe works with other substitutions, in case they don’t have a particular ingredient on hand.

    Thank you for this awesome recipe Jennifer!

    5.0 rating

    Reply
    • predominantlypaleo says

      September 2, 2019 at 3:04 am

      Thank you Ashley, that’s wonderful! I appreciate your feedback!

      Reply
  17. Rina says

    January 5, 2021 at 7:41 am

    Hi
    I made this and it turned out rather chewy instead of a cake type texture. Any idea why?

    5.0 rating

    Reply

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About

Jennifer is a wife and mother of 3 in pursuit of better health for her family.
After being gluten free for 4 years, and having a multitude of chronic health issues, she realized there was still too much processed “food” in her pantry and change was needed. Jennifer began feeding her family more meals from WHOLE foods and less from boxes. Her recipes are predominantly paleo, meaning they are free of grain, gluten, dairy, and refined sugar, but make allowances for a few treats and sweets. She believes food can be medicine when used appropriately and that a few changes now can equate to huge benefits later. Healthy food does not need to be flavorless and void of personality, which she aims to accomplish through her many recipes.

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