These delicious cupcakes are chocolate-y, light, fluffy, sweet... and contain 4 cups of spinach! You would never know it though. Give it a go for a St Patrick's Day or weekend treat - they are sugar free, dairy free and yum!
- 120 g (4 cups) fresh spinach
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil (not extra virgin) or melted coconut oil
- 3 eggs
- 100 g (1/2 cup) xylitol
- 1 teaspoon sugar free vanilla extract
- 1 orange, zest and juice (optional)
- 200 g (1 1/2 cups) spelt, wholewheat or plain flour
- 60 g (1/2 cup) cacao or cocoa powder (cocoa gives a more chocolate-y flavour, cacao is healthier - I like to use half-and-half)
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 tin coconut cream, chilled in the fridge overnight or 1 cup (250g) Greek yogurt
- generous handful of fresh spinach
- 1 tablespoons rice syrup or a couple of drops of liquid stevia, optional
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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Blitz the fresh spinach with the oil until it makes a smooth puree. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the xylitol until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and orange juice and zest, if using. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa or cacao, baking powder and salt, then sift into the egg-xylitol mixture and fold in carefully until just combined. Spoon the cupcake batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 mins until cooked through - a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake should come out clean. Allow to cool completely.
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Once cool, blitz the coconut cream or yogurt in a blender with the spinach until smooth and bright green, then sweeten to taste if needed. Top the cupcakes with the icing (or just spoon some plain Greek yogurt over them) and serve.