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 41-60

  • Binder photo evie.g

    11 September 2010

    evie.g rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely marvelous! i was really happy to find this recipie so I could finally get rid of those courgettes we've been eating for ages! and I was not dissapointed. Easy to make- it took me 8 min to prepare- u can't fault that when u've got kids, tasted wonderful and u get to see some funny faces too when people find out it's made with a giant courgette!

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  • Binder photo jenniferkendrick

    11 September 2010

    jenniferkendrick commented on this recipe

    very very nice....as suggested I reduced the sugar to 250g. I couldn't wait until it cooled and it was lovely, would be nice with vanilla ice cream I'm sure!

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  • Binder photo Galina

    16 September 2010

    Galina rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo rustylady

    17 September 2010

    rustylady commented on this recipe

    A lovely moist cake - took this to work and they loved it. My daughters boyfriend doesn't eat veg but adores chocolate, he'd eaten this cake several times before he found out what was in it - he still loves it and asks for more!

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  • Binder photo tinysparkles*

    20 September 2010

    tinysparkles* commented on this recipe

    have made this twice now and everybody loves it. baked it as a cake first time round then used the same mixture and made muffins instead - delicious and good size, less crumbly than the cake version. i found that the courgette contained too much moisture so before i added the grated courgette into the wet mix, i laid it out on kitchen towl to soak some of the water. cake did need quite alot longer in the oven though, i think mine baked for 1hr30. muffins only took 20mins per batch!

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  • Binder photo Yummy

    23 September 2010

    Yummy commented on this recipe

    Have made this 3 times now and varied the ingredients to suit my taste, less sugar, used sunflower oil instead of EVOO and added the juice of an orange to the batter and the zest to the chocolate ganache, sliced the cake in half and spread it with marmalade..... served with a creme fraiche fluide (no single or double cream here in France) WOW!!! what a lovely "Terry's Chocolate Orange" taste it was !!! Brilliant cake, so easy and very adaptable.

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  • Binder photo Debs

    23 September 2010

    Debs rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This was lovely, and no one could taste the courgette. I used a simple frosting with melted butter, milk, cocoa and icing sugar as I baked it for a cake stall and thought it would go down better with the children! I also left out the hazlenuts but sprinkled some chopped ones on top before the icing had set, delicious!

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  • Binder photo Clare

    29 September 2010

    Clare rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was a lovely moist cake. All the family loved it. I left out the nuts as my children don't like them and made some chocolate buttercream icing for the top. My children always turn their noses up at courgette, so I didn't tell what was in the cake. I only told them when all the cake had been eaten (most of it by them). They were really surprised and they didn't hate me for not telling them. They asked me to make it again.

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  • Binder photo brazilnut

    21 October 2010

    brazilnut rated this recipe

    2 stars

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  • Binder photo Jo Adams

    09 November 2010

    Jo Adams rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    Cake was really 'big' and we didn't manage to finish it all. Still not comvinced about vegetables in cakes!

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  • Binder photo peacock

    26 November 2010

    peacock rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This is a lovely cake. I baked it for 1hr 10mins. I used 150g dark and 50g milk chocolate in the topping and it was perfect. I don't think the cake was too sweet and would use the full amount of sugar again.

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  • Binder photo motherhen

    22 February 2011

    motherhen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    gorgeous, I didn't use as much as oil as the recipe states and it still turned out nice and moist.

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  • Binder photo ladyp1983

    18 March 2011

    ladyp1983 commented on this recipe

    If you are prone to eating raw cake mix this is a sure no no as its not very nice, once cooked its a bit better im hoping that by tomorrow the favours willhave developed better.

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  • Binder photo Karen

    18 April 2011

    Karen rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Nice cake, but not what I was expecting. Mine turned out very moist (you wouldn't know it had courgettes in unless you read the recipe= cheeky way to get some veg in your kids!) It was, howver, not really chocolatey enough for me -q

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  • Binder photo Karen

    18 April 2011

    Karen commented on this recipe

    Nice cake, but not what I was expecting. Mine turned out very moist (you wouldn't know it had courgettes in unless you read the recipe= cheeky way to get some veg in your kids!) It was, howver, not really chocolatey enough for me -quite bitter in fact. But still very nice. I would give it 4 stars, but it won't le me change it from the 3 I gave it at first!

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  • Binder photo autumnlight

    14 May 2011

    autumnlight commented on this recipe

    I loved this recipe. Left out the nuts and made it into fairy cakes, rather than one big one. Perfect with a cup of tea!!

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  • Binder photo cherristar

    25 May 2011

    cherristar rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I can't recommend this recipe enough, my kids absolutely loved it and didn't believe me at first when I said that it had courgettes in. Yum :)

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  • Binder photo doubledeckergal

    19 June 2011

    doubledeckergal commented on this recipe

    Really easy and very scrummy, even my husband liked it and he hates anything too sweet, was lovely will defo make it again and have just given the reciepe my mother who is a expert cake maker.

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  • Binder photo chinny

    06 July 2011

    chinny rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Mini-Chef

    09 July 2011

    Mini-Chef rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I loved this cake!! It was so yummy!!

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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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