This one is adapted from an American recipe and has gotten great reviews by all who’ve tried the results. Courgette is very delicate in flavour, so it’s barely noticeable in the cake. It’s main job is to keep the cake extra moist, which is does exceedingly well.
Courgette Cakes
This is also a ‘healthier’ cake – as this recipe uses no butter (unless you are topping it with buttercream frosting, like I do). Therefore the cake itself contains less fat, thanks to our friend the courgette.
And if you haven’t seen them yet, be sure to check out Part 1 & Part 2 of the “Courgette Challenge” blog series.
If you’ve got a recipe to share, do let us know!!
Chocolate Courgette/Zucchini Cake
(Adapted from: The Joy of Baking)
Ingredients
– 250 – 300g grated raw courgette
– 130g plain flour
– 45g unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted
– 3/4 tsp baking soda
– 1/4 tsp baking powder
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp chilli flakes OR 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
– 130g chocolate chips (or just cut-up a plain chocolate bar into chunks)
– 2 large eggs
– 120 ml vegetable oil
– 100g granulated or caster sugar
– 100g firmly packed light brown sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate buttercream frosting/icing (Optional)
– Unsalted butter (at room temperature)
– Icing sugar
– Cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C and place rack in the center of the oven.
- Grease & line a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan or use paper cupcake cases.
- Grate the courgette, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chilli flakes/cinnamon (if using). Then fold in the chocolate chips.
- In another large bowl whisk the eggs. Then add the oil, sugars, and vanilla extract and whisk until well blended (can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer).
- Fold in the grated courgette. Then fold into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan/ cupcake cases and bake until the cake has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes for a loaf / 15-20 minutes for cupcakes.
Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.
This cake can be stored in the fridge (if frosted) or at room temperature for several days, or it can be frozen.
Optional frosting
– Follow directions on the icing sugar box for ‘Buttercream frosting’, just replace 1/4 – 1/3 of the icing sugar with cocoa powder.
There you have it…hope you enjoy these tasty courgette dishes.
We can also recommend checking out the BBC Food website, where they’ve organised pages of recipes for each vegetable: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/courgette
And last but not least, we’d love to see your favourite recipes too. So please do send them in and we’ll share them with other Allotment Holders via Twitter or here on the Blog.
Happy growing & eating…!