Green Smoothie Cupcakes

Have you ever had a green smoothie?  I always expect green smoothies to taste gross (they're green not from food coloring but from spinach, kale, or some other leafy greens), but they surprise me every time by being as sweet and fruity as any other juice smoothie.  Aside from the color, you'd never know there were greens in a green smoothie.  Many people use green smoothies to get their children (or spouses) to eat their veggies.  Could I similarly hide some spinach in my cupcakes in a way that no one would notice?  I had to find out.

When Jonathan and I were out in our yard taking cupcake photos, the kids next door stopped by and begged for some cupcakes.  They don't yet know enough about my experiments to ask whether they are eating normal vanilla cupcakes or something like Buffalo Chicken cupcakes, fig, goat cheese, and onion cupcakes, or cupcakes that contain spinach.  They just assumed (and why wouldn't they?) that all cupcakes are sugary and kid-friendly.  The innocent children squealed with delight as they inhaled the green cupcakes, thanked me, and told me how good they were.

Mission accomplished! 

Green smoothie cupcakes use green smoothie as an ingredient in both the cupcake and the buttercream frosting.  The green smoothie gives the cupcakes a mildly fruity flavor and a slightly denser than average texture.  The green smoothie cupcakes are a simple one bowl recipe - the only catch being that you have to make a smoothie before you get started.  I can vouch for the smoothie recipe below (both as a smoothie you'll want to drink and as something that works well in the cupcakes), but I suspect that any smoothie recipe that you like would also work - just don't add ice to the smoothie.

Green Smoothie Cupcake Recipe

As noted above, I imagine that any smoothie recipe sans ice would work in these cupcakes.  However, I haven't tried them all and I can only vouch for the one I provide below.  My green smoothie recipe yields much more smoothie than you will need for the cupcakes.  Go ahead and drink the extra smoothie while you are working.

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Green Smoothie Ingredients:    

• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 of a banana
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1/2 cup orange juice

Green Smoothie Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a blender (I use a Vitamix, which does an amazing job at turning spinach to liquid) and blend until smooth.

Green Smoothie Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 cup green smoothie (from above)

Green Smoothie Cupcake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and baking soda. 
3. Mix in sugar and honey.
4. Mix in eggs.
5. Mix in oil and smoothie until fully combined.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Green Smoothie Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup green smoothie (from above)

Green Smoothie Buttercream Frosting Directions:

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix butter and powdered sugar for about three minutes on high speed.
2. Mix in the green smoothie a little bit at a time.
3. Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes.