Chocolate courgette cake

Chocolate courgette cake

Grated courgette gives this cake a lovely moist texture - a great way to use up a glut from your garden

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Freezable

Can be frozen uniced

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, mixed spice and 1 tsp salt. In another bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and grated courgette. Mix the dry and wet mixture until just combined, then fold in the toasted hazelnuts. Line a 24cm cake tin with greaseproof paper, then pour in your mixture. Bake for about 40-50 mins, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
  2. To make the icing, place the chocolate in a bowl and bring cream to the boil in a saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until completely smooth and melted. Leave the icing to cool slightly and thicken, then spread it over the cake so it's covered and the icing starts to drip down the sides. Serve with a cup of tea or enjoy as a pud with a spoonful of something creamy.
Try

Baking with courgettes

Courgettes can hold quite a lot of water, which can affect the finished texture of your cake. If your grated courgettes seem watery, place them into a clean cloth and wring out some of the liquid into a bowl. Then add the courgettes to the cake mixture as normal. The timing for cakes containing courgette can depend on the water content of your courgettes, so return the cake to the oven for another 10 mins if it needs it. Simply test with a skewer and make sure it comes out clean.

Per serving

716 kcalories, protein 10g, carbohydrate 84g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 10g, fibre 4g, sugar 55g, salt 0.43 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, July 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo cindy

    30 June 2010

    cindy commented on this recipe

    This was a lovely cake but far too sweet. The second time I made it I reduced the sugar to 325g and it was fantastic.

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  • Binder photo Harvey

    08 July 2010

    Harvey commented on this recipe

    When I made this cake I asked my family what the secret ingredinent was - my son said "it is made with love because you aways add a little love to your cooking"! Seriously though, it was really easy to make and although we didn't find it too sweet there was a lot of sugar in the recipe. I may leave out the hazelnuts next time as I think they added a bit of a twang but my husband liked the added texture. The icing, however, was luscious! A definite recipe to bookmark for future use.

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  • Binder photo thynk2much

    09 July 2010

    thynk2much rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    I found this to be a bit dry.

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  • Binder photo lyndy

    19 July 2010

    lyndy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was really good! I reduced the sugar to 300g, and used doves gluten free flour with 2tsp of baking powder rather than the sr flour. Also peeled the courgettes. Was a little put off by all the oil but turned out fine. Had a good game making the kids guess what was in it, and then deciding if it counted as 1 of you 5 a day!

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  • Binder photo Wildimo

    19 July 2010

    Wildimo rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Brilliant recipe and so much fun when telling people what was in it after they had come back for seconds! Sugar was ok for me but I was using very rich French cocoa so it needed it. I used 4 small eggs and am going to experiment with a different oil as I felt the olive oil was a bit too strong. I must admit I cannot imagine how anyone could find it too dry - it is the most moist cake imaginable!

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  • Binder photo goodwood57

    25 July 2010

    goodwood57 commented on this recipe

    Made this today. I found i had to leave it in the oven for longer than 50 mins,but that could be my oven. Very moist and has gone down well.

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  • Binder photo kevthekelt

    29 July 2010

    kevthekelt commented on this recipe

    Great recipe but use rapeseed oil not olive oil as it is too strong.

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  • Binder photo Kacey

    30 July 2010

    Kacey rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was a great moist cake and helped use up some courgettes from the garden.we didnt find it too sweet but we also used a stong cocoa and I peeled the courgette. I didnot make the chocolate topping but I think I will next time

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  • Binder photo Emily_19

    31 July 2010

    Emily_19 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was easy to make, though grating the courgettes was a bit of a chore. Surprisingly tasty cake, though the cake part is not very chocolatey. I used chopped walnuts instead and reduced the sugar, but would make it again.

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  • Binder photo Rosemary

    31 July 2010

    Rosemary commented on this recipe

    cut down on the sugar as recommended but it took best part of 90 mins to cook, but well worth the effort! please try it yourself. on my favourites list!

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  • Binder photo Helensfolder

    01 August 2010

    Helensfolder commented on this recipe

    Really pleased with this cake. Wonderful taste and texture. It did take longer to cook than recipe said - probably about another 30 mins. Served slices with some nice cornish icecream.

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  • Binder photo Helensfolder

    01 August 2010

    Helensfolder rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Forgot to rate it!! Also, I didn't have any hazlenuts, so I used chopped walnuts, other than that, I made it as per the recipe.

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  • Binder photo K.Newman

    03 August 2010

    K.Newman rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was really easy to make and tastes great!

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  • Binder photo mmow

    05 August 2010

    mmow commented on this recipe

    Made this today - was suprised at the amount of oil and sugar - haven't tried it yet so don't know how it tastes. I used pecans instead of walnuts. It needed longer than 50 mins to cook.

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  • Binder photo Top Chef

    05 August 2010

    Top Chef rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Made this today, needed to be in the oven A LOT LONGER than 50 mins very gooey, can't be the oven as only 3 months old! Probably won't make again as cooking time is ridicoulsy long. Will use the icing recipe again though.

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  • Binder photo mamma smith

    06 August 2010

    mamma smith rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Worked very well, helped use up courgettes. Had to make it again as the first one disappeared almost immediately. Used good quality cocoa, peeled courgettes, used rapeseed oil, also needed to cook for longer that stated, suspect it depends how big/wet courgettes are as the second one took a lot longer and the courgettes were small ones the first time. Still tasted yummy and freezes well.

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  • Binder photo Claire

    09 August 2010

    Claire commented on this recipe

    Put the grated courgette in a colander sprinkle with salt, weight down with a plate & a couple of tins of beans, leave to drain for 20 mins, then either squeeze by hand or put in a clean t-towel gather up & squeeze out a bit more moisture. You will then find that the cooking time works. This is especially good if you're using large vey watery courgettes.

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  • Binder photo paberley

    10 August 2010

    paberley rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    i used alittle less sugar cos i ran out (320g) and used walnuts rather than hazlenuts. prob not the best!! the cake was Soo nice cant wait to make it again. Really easy to make too

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  • Binder photo maidinfrance

    11 August 2010

    maidinfrance rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this cake by changing olive oil to sunflower oil, ordinary white caster sugar, used untoasted walnuts added 1.5 tea spoons of baking powder and mixed all the wet ingredients in my robot/magimix but first just blizted the egg and sugar until very light, then added the other ingredients and the grated courgette disappeared like magic. I also grated the courgette using my robot, quite a course grate, but quick. Used a 28cm round cake tin and it cooked perfectly in 50min. This cake recipe is thought to be quite bizarre by our french friends but really delicious and the topping is a ganache to which rum or brandy or other liquers can be added. I am going to swop the nuts for candied orange peel and flavour the ganache with 1tab sp of an orange flavoured liquer.

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  • Binder photo Popi

    11 August 2010

    Popi rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice!!! i used 300gr of sugar, and rapeseed oil. Also, put cinammon& nutmeg as didn't have mixed spice. Didn't put any nuts it. The cake was delicious& moist.... I baked it for more than 50mins though (around an 1hr and 5min)..

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 10

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Freezable

Can be frozen uniced

Ingredients

FOR THE ICING

  • 200g dark chocolate , chopped
  • 100ml double cream
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Per serving

716 kcalories, protein 10g, carbohydrate 84g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 10g, fibre 4g, sugar 55g, salt 0.43 g

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