Lemon Stinging Nettle Cake

This fabulously creative recipe celebrates the fun color of stinging nettles, while masked under a delectable lemon buttercream cake!

Befriending the enemy.  When I was a child growing up in the country, I learned very quickly what a stinging nettle was, and how to stay as far away as possible.  As I got older, the concept of using nettles for medicinal value and in actual food preparation floored me, but not quite enough to take the plunge.  It was not until very recently while helping my mom clear out a garden that the idea finally gave way to action, and the research began.

Understanding the cooking technique.  When going about using nettles, it’s important to know the type of flavor that you would like to bring forward, and how strong of a nettle taste that should be.  There are four ways to rid the nettles of their natural sting: blanching, steaming, crushing, and dehydrating. Given that this was a dessert, I was after the concept of using the nettles and beautiful coloring, but not necessarily the taste, so opted for blanching, as most of the flavor is lost in the water. 

After submerging in boiling water for about 5 minutes, I ran under very cold water and placed in a large bowl to puree, creating a paste.  This is a great process if you are working with a large quantity of nettles, as you can keep the paste in the refrigerator for many days to use in future recipes.  It also freezes very well from this stage if you’d like to preserve for winter months (I’m a fan of using an ice cube tray to create serving sizes for easier thawing).   

This fabulous cake recipe was inspired by Kate, and while I am horrible at following directions in the kitchen usually, I change my rules when it comes to baking-quite the science here!  My only change was that I found it easier to measure the stinging nettles from the pureed form then trying to judge lose leaf measurements.

Since I was measuring with this form, I used about a cup of the puree.  This is more than the originally recipe called for, and the cake texture turned out a bit denser than a light lemon cake would traditionally be, but more the consistency of a pound cake, which I actually preferred.  Because of this added density and moisture, it did take about 8 more minutes in the oven, so just watch the baking time if you alter the quantity of nettles, and check with a toothpick often for doneness. 

I made this cake specifically for Mother’s Day, and knowing I had two fabulous nephews in company, and little fingers to help with the tasting, I was not too stingy on the frosting amounts, and slightly more liberal on the lemon, to make sure the nettle flavor was well masked.  Even for an adult audience, I would still highly recommend doing this, as the tart flavor of the lemon was a huge success, and while intended for garnish, the berries and mint complimented the lemon perfectly. 

In case you missed it, Kate’s recipe can be found here.

I am working through a few more recipes using nettles in various fashions, so please check back on my webpage for recent updates-I will add links here when available. Thanks!

Please share if you attempt this nettle creation and let me know how it turned out!