Chocolate Courgette Cake
Can there be a Healthy-ish Cake? The allotment veg has been a disaster this year. If you sowed too early everything dried up. Sowed later and the seeds were washed away, followed by a surge of weeds unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The tomatoes in the greenhouse haven’t had enough sun and are leggy and green, the beetroot never even got past the sprouting stage before the third time lucky ones got munched by slugs. The one thing that has grown are my courgettes! A vast glut of them. We have had them in salads as ribbons, sliced in strips and griddled dressed with mint olive oil, chilli and garlic. I have no space in the freezer for any more soup, each soup bag having a slightly different flavour dependant on the stock used and the amount of mint added….so what to do with those extra courgettes? Cake of Course!
It may sound odd, but carrot cake isn’t is it? Lovely and moist. Keeps well. This is just as good if not better as its….. Chocolate Courgette cake! Delicious cut into squares, served warm with a dollop of cream, ice cream or jazz it up with a raspberry coulis by the side.
7 oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb
4 oz sugar
2 eggs
6fl oz mild vegetable oil
6 oz good quality dark chocolate
8 oz grated courgette squeezed to removed excess water
Sift flour, sugar, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a bowl
Beat the eggs with oil in a separate bowl
Melt chocolate gently in bowl over water
Beat eggs and sugar into dry mixture
Stir in melted chocolate and courgettes
Pour into a lined tin – I use a square one so I can cut in to small squares.
Cook at 180 for 30 mins
(Check if cooked by inserting a skewer)
You could ice it with a cream cheese topping like carrot cake, drizzle with a glacé icing, or warm it for a dessert.
It freezes incredibly well…. if you have the willpower to get it to the freezer and not eat it first!
