making chocolate courgette cake

If you’ve still got whopping great marrows knocking around (they store for weeks afterall so it’s quite possible) then reach for your grater and make a simple, delicious chocolate courgette cake.  Super easy, moist and tasty this is a great recipe for making do with what you have in the cupboard as it uses oil instead of butter and cocoa powder instead of chocolate (although on this baking day I found G’s dark chocolate in the cupboard and the cocoa powder pot empty).  It works just as well for making cupcakes (made another day when cocoa powder supplies had been replenished).

I was so sure I’d already posted this recipe but it seems I imagined that.  E’s hair, or rather the lack of it, is the measure of the passing of time since taking the photos with the intention to share it!  Woops, well over a year ago I’d say.
To make Chocolate Courgette cake

350g self-raising flour
50g cocoa powder (I used 100g dark chocolate in this cake)
1tsp mixed spice
175ml olive oil
375g sugar
1tsp salt
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
500ml grated courgette
140g toasted hazelnuts roughly chopped

• • • mix flour, spice, salt, cocoa powder
    • mix oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, grated courgette
    • combine the dry and wet mixtures and fold in chopped hazelnuts
    • line a 24cm cake tin and pour the mixture in (or spoon into cup cake cases)
    • bake for 40-50 minutes (reduce to 25 mins for cup cakes) before turning out
    • place 2 squares of dark chocolate on top of the warm cake and move around the cake with the back of the spoon to create a thin melted topping.
    • Alternatively cool for 10 mins and see original BBC Good Food recipe for making a gooey chocolate frosting topping

I sandwiched my cake with butter cream and jam and decorated with blueberries.  Who knew melting chocolate squares on top of a fresh-from-the-oven cake could be so satisfying?  My topping was a bit meagre (I only saved 2 squares for it) but once it hardened properly a few hours later it created a lovely thin crispy topping (very satisfying to cut into!)

The inspiration for the melted chocolate topping came from Conner Middelmann-Whitney’s video post for Chocolate Beetroot cake (fast forward to 6 minutes if you just want to see the icing stage).  It’s next on my list of recipes to try as unlike this recipe it’s packed with nutrients, gluten-free, dairy free and sweetened only with a smidgen of acacia honey. Conner is the author of Zest for Life: The Mediterranean Anti-Cancer Diet and her YouTube channel is well worth checking out for other video recipes.

First published in 2014.  If you like this recipe you may also be interested in Making beetroot and chocolate cupcakes