Finally, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try this recipe for lettuce cake, and today’s bounty of lettuce provides the means. I saw this mentioned at SeriousEats.com last year, and although it calls for iceberg, I’m going to try it with our green leaf lettuce. Sounds like an interesting variation on carrot cake. The recipe comes Nicole Weston of BakingBites.com.
Ingredients:
cake: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 head (approx 1 1/4 -1 1/2 cups) shredded iceberg lettuce 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Icing: 1/4 cup cream cheese 1/4 cup butter 2 tablespoon lemon juice zest from one lemon 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and ginger. Stir in sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until almost combined. Add in lettuce, raisins and chopped walnuts and mix until all ingredients are well distributed and no streaks of flour remain.
Spread into an even layer in prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan completely before frosting.
Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl or food processor and beat until frosting is smooth. Adjust amount of powdered sugar to make a thin icing that spreads easily.