Forager’s Fabled Stinging Nettle Loaf Cake

May 18

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Down along the banks of the rushing river hidden deep inside the enchanted wood, you may be lucky enough to come across a patch of stinging nettles. With these incredible wild edible plants, you can bring the Forager's Fabled Stinging Nettle Cake to life! This cake is moist and soft, flavored with lemon and vanilla, and naturally colored a bright beautiful green. The nettles hardly add any flavor at all, so you only get the benefits of their wonderful properties. There’s nothing quite like a delicious cake made from foraged ingredients in the spring.

Forager’s Fabled Stinging Nettle Loaf Cake

cooking with stinging nettles:

Have you heard of stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)? This wild growing plant has a long medicinal history and has been used to help cure ails in humans for hundreds of years. This plant was quite popular in the Middle Ages to cure joint pain and as a diuretic to cleanse the body of internal toxins. The only downside to this plant is that it is covered in little stinging hairs, which are irritating to the skin and can be downright painful. When they come in contact with your skin, they leave you feeling itchy, red, and can cause swelling - literally like a sting! On the opposite hand, stinging nettles are entirely edible and the stinging hairs are easily taken care of after the nettles are boiled.

You can learn more about harvesting and cooking with lilacs in my Ultimate Cozy Guide to Foraging for Stinging Nettles.

gathering ingredients to make stinging nettle cake:

To make stinging nettle cake, you will of course have to forage for some nettles! If nettles aren’t available to you, you can easily replicate this recipe with another green like spinach.

Nettles. To make this cake turn a brilliant bright green, you will be using the power of pureed nettles! However, not everyone has access to nettles so you can easily substitute this ingredient for fresh spinach. Simply puree the spinach until smooth and replace for nettles in a 1:1 ratio.
All-Purpose Flour. For this cake, it’s best to use all-purpose flour. Because this is more of a bread-like cake, it’s creates a crumb that’s a bit sturdier.
Butter. I always used salted butter in my recipes, but you can use unsalted instead if you prefer. The butter should be at room temperature before creaming.
Sugar. For this recipe, I used granulated cane sugar. You can easily substitute other types of non-liquid sugar in its place if you prefer.
Eggs. You will need two large eggs for this cake at room temperature.
Lemon. To help flavor this cake, along with some vanilla extract, lemon juice and zest are incorporated into the batter.
Buttermilk. To help activate the baking soda and give this cake some lift, buttermilk is added. Because it is slightly acidic, it reacts with baking soda and baking powder to puff this sweet little cake up and out of the pan.
Freeze Dried Strawberries. To make the pretty pink icing, you will need some powdered freeze dried strawberries.

identifying nettles:

If you are becoming more interested in foraging for stinging nettle where you live, then you will want to look out for the identifying signs of this plant to make sure that you are harvesting the correct one! Always be cautious when foraging and do your research before harvesting and consuming plants that you do not know well. For a more professional guide, please read this article from Oregon State University.

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) can be identified most easily by the small fibrous hairs, or spines, growing on its stalk and the undersides of the leaves. It is a native perennial herb.

It has opposite growing heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges, like a saw, and it grows tiny green-ish flowers that bud from the stalk. The stems are square and are covered with small white hairs, or spines. The undersides of the leaves also grow these hairs, but the tops of the leaves do not. They are dark green in color and can grow between 3 to 7 feet tall.

where to find nettles:

Nettles are grown all over the world, though they tend to like places that are bit more shady. They often grow in streambeds, forest floors, and farmland. They are easy to grow from a cultivated seed in garden beds, and they spread through rhizomes or the dropping of their seed.

If you are hunting for nettle, you will tend to find them growing in lush patches, usually in a spot where other wild weeds are growing. They prefer more moist ecosystems, like a marsh or along a stream. The nettles on my farm grow in the shady area below our timber line where they stay cool and moist.

To learn how to harvest nettles, read my Ultimate Cozy Guide to Foraging for Stinging Nettles.

how to blanch nettles:

If you would like to cook with fresh nettles, it’s imperative that you blanch them first. The boiling process destroys the tiny stinging hairs, making them edible and safe to eat. Simply lift the nettles with a pair of tongs into a large boiling pot of water. Boil them for 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer them to a bowl of ice water for 1 minute to stop them from continuing to cook. Then, strain the nettles in a colander and squeeze out as much water as possible. Store the blanched nettles in a plastic bag in your refrigerator until ready to use. They should last for 3 to 4 days.

how to make stinging nettle cake:

Step One: Begin by blanching your nettles according to the directions above. For this recipe, you will need about 2 cups (100 g) of fresh nettles and their stems. Once blanched, place the nettles into a food processor or blender and pulse them until they are smooth.

Step Two: After pureeing the nettles, you can begin making the cake batter. The dry ingredients are sifted together to help give the cake a nice soft crumb and fluffy texture. Then, the butter and sugar are creamed until light and fluffy. The remaining wet ingredients are mixed in, along with the pureed nettles. Finally, the dry ingredient mix is folded into the batter until it no longer appears dry and is just combined.

Step Three: Next, you will spread the cake batter evenly into the prepared baking pan, a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13-cm) loaf pan. Bake the cake at 350° F (177° C) for about 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Step Four: While the cake rests, you can begin making the icing with freeze dried strawberries. Whisk together the powdered strawberries, powdered sugar, and milk to create a thick and drizzly icing. Finally, spread the icing over the cake and decorate with edible flowers.

final thoughts:

This beautiful green cake looks absolutely fantastic with playful pink strawberry icing and bright edible flowers decorated on top! You will be absolutely charmed by the wild look of this stinging nettle cake recipe.

xoxo Kayla

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Yield: 8-10

Author: Kayla Lobermeier