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Having won Masterchef: The Professionals, you'd think chef Gary Maclean would know the best ingredients to make a delicious cake – so why does one of his most recent dessert creations contain spinach?

Corner Shop Cook Off saw Gary tasked with making a three course meal using only ingredients found in a standard corner shop with a strict £15 budget.

Seems simple enough, but the twist was that the corner shop owner was asked to contribute three mystery items that would have to be incorporated into Gary's recipe – hence why a can of spinach found its way of an otherwise sweet dessert.

Judges on the show were blown away by how delicious the spinach cake was, so why not try it for yourself by following our easy recipe.

Ingredients

Coconut and Spinach Cake:

• 1 Chocolate covered coconut bar (cut into chunks)
• ½ can of spinach (well drained)
• 200g sugar
• 200g Butter
• 200g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs

Coconut & Chocolate Praline:

• 200g Caster sugar
• 1 Chocolate covered coconut bar (finely chopped)
• Vegetable oil

Topping:

• Bananas
• 50 g caster sugar
• Mini Marshmallows
• 100ml Double cream

(Makes approximately 6 small cakes)

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a muffin tin.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Once well combined add the eggs one at a time with approximately 1/3 of the flour. Fold the spinach and chocolate bar into the mix.

3. Spoon the mix into the prepared muffin tin and place in the over to cook for approximately 10 minutes. The cakes should be golden brown on top and a knife/skewer should come out clean when inserted into the cake. Once the cake is ready allow to cool for a couple of minutes before being moved onto a cooling rack.

4. Oil a baking tray and palette knife. Place caster sugar in a dry frying pan. Dissolve the sugar using a high heat. Try not to stir the sugar – just tilt the pan carefully to move it around. Once the sugar has fully dissolved add the chocolate bar and stir into the mixture. As soon as the chocolate bar has fully melted and the mixture is bubbling pout onto the oiled baking tray and spread out with the palette knife. Allow to cool completely.

(Do not try to taste molten caramel or dip your fingers into it)

5. For topping, slice the banana into half inch pieces and sprinkle sugar over the top. Use a blow torch to melt and caramelise the sugar or place under the grill (being careful to remove as soon as the sugar has browned).

6. Whip the double cream until it forms stiff peaks.

7. Place a dollop of the whipped cream on top of the cake. Break up the praline and add a few shards to the top of the cream. Add the caramelised bananas and marshmallows around the cake.