"Forest Moss" Cake is a spinach layer cake paired with a white cream. The cake originates from Poland, and there are quite a few variations of it — both within Poland and beyond its borders. Today I'm sharing my version of the "Forest Moss" Cake with my own proportions. I used the base from this cake — Mousse Cake "Spinach-Strawberry", doubling it. Since it's winter right now and fresh spinach isn't the most accessible ingredient, I decided to use frozen spinach — and I also wanted to show that you can get a beautifully green layer from frozen spinach too! There are a few nuances when working with frozen spinach, which I'll describe in detail further in the recipe. That said, fresh spinach will also make a wonderful cake, so use whatever you have on hand. To complement the flavor of the cake layers, I used lemon zest and a little lemon juice. Using vegetable oil in the spinach layers makes them fluffy, airy, and moist. Even though the layers turn out quite moist on their own, I still added a lemon juice soak on top of that. This made the cake incredibly tender and well-saturated. I made the frosting from whipped heavy cream and mascarpone — its rich, creamy flavor beautifully highlights the deep, moist layers. My guests were delighted by the unusual look of the "Forest Moss" Cake, and of course by its wonderful taste — they practically finished the whole cake in one sitting. My daughter managed to grab seconds, but the adults didn't get any more)) So delicious!
Ingredients:
- Cake layers:
- 4 eggs
- 200 g frozen spinach (or 100 g fresh)
- 160 g flour
- 120 g sugar
- 120 g vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- Soak:
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp water
- 1–2 tsp sugar
- Frosting:
- 350 g heavy cream 33%
- 100 g mascarpone
- 70 g sugar
How to cook "forest moss" cake
Fully thaw the spinach. If it releases a lot of liquid while thawing, pour some of it off separately — but not all of it, since "dry" spinach will be hard to blend. Blend the spinach with an immersion blender as thoroughly as possible, adding back some of the reserved liquid as needed. Frozen spinach becomes quite fibrous after thawing and is difficult to blend smoothly, so be patient for the best results. Next, press the spinach through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any coarse, unblended fibers. This is a very important step! A lot of unblended bits will be left in the strainer — which is exactly why I called for twice as much frozen spinach as fresh.
Add the vegetable oil to the strained spinach and blend everything together again very thoroughly with an immersion blender until you get as smooth a mixture as possible. If you're using fresh spinach, wash and dry it, then remove the stems and blend with an immersion blender. Fresh spinach blends very easily.
Make the cake layer. Place the egg whites in a bowl and beat them thoroughly, gradually adding half the sugar. Beat until you have a firm, airy meringue that holds its shape and doesn't fall off the whisk.
Beat the egg yolks with the remaining half of the sugar and the vanilla sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Add the spinach mixture to the beaten yolks and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, and stir again.
Gradually add the sifted flour mixed with the baking powder, also folding it in gently with light bottom-to-top strokes.
Prepare your pan. I used a baking ring set to 20 cm, with the bottom wrapped in parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for approximately 20–30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Once cooled, run a knife along the edge and remove the sponge from the pan. Trim off the uneven top — you'll use it for the crumbs. Then slice the sponge horizontally into two layers.
Remove the dark crust from the top piece, then crumble it into fine crumbs — this will be our "moss."
Make the frosting. Beat the heavy cream with the sugar until thick and fluffy. Gradually add the mascarpone one spoonful at a time, continuing to beat. Taste the frosting for sweetness and add more sugar if needed.
Assemble the cake. Place one layer on a plate and soak it with half of the soak mixture. Because the soak contains lemon juice, it may start to react with the spinach layer, lightening its color slightly.
Thanks to the frozen spinach, the color truly resembles real forest moss — a rich green with a slight earthy, swampy undertone. Fresh spinach, on the other hand, gives the layers a brighter, more vibrant color closer to a light green, just like in the cake — Mousse Cake "Spinach-Strawberry", where I used fresh spinach. Here's what the "Forest Moss" Cake looks like from the side.
Comments