This cake would be Barbie’s dream! Malibu Dream Cake is a green smoothie cake with vanilla protein powder cookie dough filling, and finished pretty pink frosting!
When making cake concepts, the process is never linear. Sometimes I want to highlight a specific technique. Other times I want to focus on a single ingredient. But for this cake, the name is what prompted the baking. Malibu Dream Cake. The name just rolled off the tongue. It sounded pretty, sunny, and a riff off of Barbie’s Malibu Dream House.
I wanted to make a pink frosting, that was a given. But what sort of cake? What sort of filling? I looked into the history of Malibu. First the area of Malibu had it’s native Chumash people, followed by Spanish Explorers. Then came the Rindges fighting citizens and government alike. After the husband, Fredrick Rindge, passed away, his wife kept up the resistance. She opened the Malibu Potteries Tile factory to fund her legal court battles against California.
Ultimately, she lost against the state, and California began building the Pacific Coast Highway. Despite losing the ownership of all her land, she still picked who could build vacation rentals in Malibu. With its millionaire mansions and famous movie-star A-list dwellers, Malibu’s exclusivity still holds true today.
Despite all of this history, none of the backstory directly pertained to food. The region was more known for it’s residents, gorgeous sunsets, stunning beaches, and distinctive roadways winding against the coastline.
At first I went with a egg yolk based cake (thinking of sunny skies, and gorgeous colorful sunsets), but it just didn’t fit the theme. At least not well enough.
Back to the drawing board I went! This time rather than using the scenery as the inspiration, I chose to do a riff on trendy good beach body foods! Think spinach, matcha, Greek yogurt, and protein powder. You can’t sport a bikini without work!
Not like this cake is ‘healthy.’ But it’s the thought that counts. Maybe? Not really. Oh well!
The Malibu Dream Cake has a Green Smoothie cake. I am not a connoisseur of green smoothies, or any smoothie, however I knew three staples in ‘healthy’ drinks: spinach, matcha, and Greek yogurt.
Okay, yes at first glance spinach in a cake does not sound appetizing. But seriously, trust me. The spinach is steamed and then pureed. Cooking the spinach diminishes any natural bitterness and acidity. When in the batter and baked, the spinach has zero taste. It only provides a natural green color. The flavor comes from the matcha and Greek yogurt. A small amount of powdered matcha gives the Malibu Dream Cake a subtle earthy flavor, while the Greek yogurt provides ample moisture with a distinctive tang.
But this is a layer cake people! To play off of the health theme I made a vanilla protein powder cookie dough filling. The thing with cookie dough as a cake filling, is that you want a smooth spreadable consistency. If you make a basic eggless cookie dough, it will harden too much, leading to disaster. The filling will separate from the cake layers. When you’re ready to assemble, you want to add some milk to the dough, keeping the filling spreadable.
And yes, your eyes are correct that is the correct shade of pink. Neon and intense, don’t judge! And these sprinkles. Did I mention that these sprinkles are seriously amazing? Well they are! I finally invested in one of Sweetapolita’s sprinkle medleys. They’re utterly gorgeous and the color combination are just perfect! In fact the color combination inspired the frosting color for the Malibu Dream Cake. This color combination of pink, fresh green, yellow, and gold are cheerfully California in style.
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- For the Green Smoothie Cake:
- 3 cups raw fresh spinach
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ cups (1 ½ sticks, 12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cup Greek yogurt, divided (1 to 2 tablespoons for spinach)
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- For the Vanilla Protein Bar Cookie Dough Filling:
- ½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ vanilla protein powder
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- For the Beach Ready Frosting:
- 1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 6 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- pinch of salt
- Green food gel
- Pink food gel
- To assemble the Malibu Dream Cake:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons milks (as needed)
- sprinkles
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 3 8-inch cake pans with baking spray, set aside.
- Steam spinach until bright green, blanch under cold water. Drain the spinach, squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Puree spinach with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the Greek yogurt.
- In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until pale in color, about 2 minutes, Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer’s speed down to low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Whisk the remaining Greek yogurt, buttermilk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. With the mixer speed on low add the dry and wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. The batter will look thick.
- Divide the batter between pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating halfway. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans before inverting them onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hour, or even overnight, to let the cake moisten further.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter and cream cheese on a medium-high speedy until smooth and lump free, about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bowl down. On a low speed, add the vanilla and granulated sugar. Beat on a medium speed until sugar is incorporated, about 1 minute. Add in the powder sugar, protein powder, flour, and salt. Refrigerate until assembly. If the filling hardens and cannot be spread, soften the filling to room temperature and stir in a few teaspoons of milk. The filling consistency should be spreadable, but not runny, the thickness of a raw pound cake batter.
- Put the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on a medium-high speed until pale in color and lump free. Add the vanilla and then scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- With the mixer’s speed on low, slowly add the powdered sugar, scraping the bowl as needed. Add a pinch of salt. Beat again on a medium-high speed for a final 1 to 2 minutes.
- Remove about 1 cup of frosting and tint it green. Tint the remaining frosting pink. Refrigerate in containers until ready to assemble.
- Use a serrated knife to level off the cakes.
- Dollop a bit of frosting onto the cake board or plate. Place one cake layer onto the cake board and pipe pink frosting around the perimeter of the cake, creating a moat for the filling. Spread some of the Vanilla Protein Bar Cookie Dough Filling onto that cake layer. Repeat this process with the second layer and top with the final cake layer. Do an initial crumb coat and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Do a final layer, chill for 5 minutes, and then press the sprinkles onto the top and sides of the cake. Finish with the green frosting.