Chocolate courgette cakes recipe
As our crop of courgettes keeps on giving, I like to find different ways of using them up. You will be familiar with carrot cake but maybe not courgette cake. In this recipe I have used half and half courgettes and cucumber as we also had lots of cucumbers and it works just as well. Whilst cake might not be the healthiest thing to eat, I am sure most people like something sweet every now and again and this one is much better for you than any cake you could buy in a shop. They are also very easy to make so why not indulge occasionally?
Ingredients - makes about 16 cupcakes
- 200g of grated courgettes (or cucumber or a mix)
- 100g extra virgin olive oil.
- 225g wholemeal flour.
- Half teaspoon of baking powder.
- Half teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
- Two beaten eggs.
- 2 tablespoons of milk.
- 100g castor sugar.
- 50g of drinking chocolate OR 50g of cocoa powder. (The cocoa powder makes a less sweet cake).
- 60g dark chocolate chips.
Method
- Heat the oven to 175 degrees C.
- Grate the vegetables. If you are using courgettes, wash and dry them and cut off the ends.
If you are using cucumbers, you will need to remove the seeds but leave the skin on. - On this occasion I used half and half courgette and cucumber.
- To get 200g of grated vegetables you will probably need about 230g-240g of courgette or deseeded cucumber to start with. It never looks as though there is a lot left behind during the grating but somehow I always seem to lose about 30g in the process.
5. Measure the oil, flour, baking powder, bicarb, eggs, milk, sugar and drinking chocolate (or cocoa) and into the bowl and mix well with a fork.
6. Finally add the chocolate chips and stir in carefully so they are well distributed.
7. If you are using cocoa powder instead of drinking chocolate you may need to add another tablespoon of milk to the mixture.
8. Spoon the mixture into some cupcake cases.
9. Cook for 15 - 18 minutes in the oven at 175 degrees C.
10. After 15 minutes check they are cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cakes. If the skewer comes out clean they are cooked.
11. Leave to cool on a wire tray.
12. If you like a sweeter cake make up a small amount of icing by mixing a little icing sugar with a few drops of water. Be very sparing with the water as you can always add more but a little goes a long way!
13. In the photo the drinking chocolate versions are the light coloured cakes and the cocoa cake is the dark one at the bottom.