24 September 2006
Surprisingly good.
You probably thought I was joking about the chocolate courgette loaf, didn’t you? Well, I wasn’t. I’ll admit that I had my doubts as it does seem a pretty disgusting combination, but I went ahead and made it anyway to feed to my friends and parents without having tried it myself first. Some would say that was foolhardy. I prefer to think of it as living life on the edge.
You’re right - if that’s my idea of risk-taking then I really need to get out more.
Anyway, for those of you prepared to give it a go, here’s the recipe, taken from the truly wonderful Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes book (published before they became part of Cadbury’s *sigh*).
You will need:
- 175g very dark chocolate
- 225g courgettes (no, really)
- 200g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder (very hard to find in Kings Heath, apparently)
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp ground cinnamon
- 110g caster sugar
- 175ml sunflower oil
- 2 medium eggs
- A loaf tin
- Preheat oven to 180 deg C / 350 deg F / gas mark 4
- Brush the tin with a little oil and line the base with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the chocolate in a bowl. You can use the bain marie method or very carefully use the microwave - take care not to overheat it!
- Finely grate the courgettes. (You will be left with a soggy and unpleasant-looking pulp that resembles a billion catterpillars playing twister)
- Sift the flour, baking powder (assuming you can get some in your part of the world), bicarb of soda and cinnamon into a large bowl and mix in the sugar and grated courgettes. (Now you will end up with a thick, slimy, greeny-brown gloop that looks as though it has already been eaten once. At this stage, if you are anything like me, you will seriously doubt your sanity or question the degree of your gullibility for starting the bloody recipe in the first place because really, this mess can’t possibly produce anything edible, can it? Worry not, it is worth continuing.)
- In another bowl, beat together the oil and eggs. Stir the mixture into the dry ingredients. (Dry ingredients? What dry ingredients? Do you mean this gelatinous mucous-like mass that is sticking to the sides of my mixing bowl? Yes? Well OK then.) Then stir in the melted chocolate.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 55-65 minutes. (The light in our oven no longer works so I spent a fair bit of that time sprawled on the kitchen floor shining a torch inside through the glass door to see how it was getting on. You probably don’t need to be quite so bonkers when you cook yours.)
- When the loaf comes out of the oven leave it to cool in the tin for at least 15 mins as it is very fragile when hot, then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely.
The Green & Black’s recipe suggests a chocolate buttercream topping, but we did without and served it with homemade toffee fudge ripple ice cream. We also gave it to our guests without telling them what the secret ingredient was and asked them to guess. Eventually, after a few clues they got it, but everyone was surprised when they found out. And the verdict?
“Earthy”, “Mmmmn, delicious”, “Gorgeous”, “Is there any more?”. It’s lighter than I expected it to be, though there’s enough chocolate for it to have a really rich taste. We pretty much polished off the lot.
Next week in my ‘Unlikely recipes to amaze your friends’ series I will introduce you to the delights of french bean jam and compost crumble. Mmmmn, delicious.
Filed under: Recipes - Non-soup, Today's Bible — Clare @ 1:29 pm
Found you! Nice blog, and nice recipe. I’ll certainly be trying that. I’ve been going out of my mind trying to find ways to get through all the courgettes and I never would have thought of making them into chocolate cake.
(24.09.06 @ 3:47 pm)
I had indeed questioned its existence when you mentioned in before, but wow! It looks absolutely sinful!
I was sad to see that the recipe was in different measurement units, but then I thought, this is my chance to test my conversion skills that I learned in Chemistry!
Thank you!
(24.09.06 @ 4:00 pm)
Hi Mel - ooops! Sorry, I thought I had left the web address with my details when I commented on your site, but evidently not! I hope you didn’t have to search too hard. Glad you like the look of the recipe. I will definitely be making it again soon.
(24.09.06 @ 4:01 pm)
Hi Taryn - I think we were commenting at the same time! I think it’s fair to sya that the loaf is well and truly sinful (there’s a whole lot of oil in it for a start!), but at least I can console myself by remembering that eating it is helping me towards my 5-a-day fruit and veg! Sorry about the measurements (that’s me trying ot be modern and European!). I dohave the imperial measurements as part of the original recipe and can pass those on if they will make conversion (into cups, presumably?) any easier. Let me know how you get on.
I also visited your site which I thought looked interesting - I’ve added you to my blogroll.
(24.09.06 @ 4:11 pm)
Thank you for adding me, Soupette!
Your recipe may just be what gets my boyfriend to eat cooked veggies!
I love your site by the way, the content and the lovely design.
(24.09.06 @ 4:42 pm)
Hey Soupster! Cracking cake you made there - the mistress has been eyeing it with a view to trying it out, so thanks
p.s. I hadn’t realised G&B’s were part of Cadbury’ now. What a shame.
(24.09.06 @ 6:32 pm)
WLB - yep! It’s a real winner. And I know, it’s such a shame about G&B. Apparently they are still operating to their fairtrade principles, but still. And who can resist a bar of Maya Gold?
(24.09.06 @ 6:56 pm)
Still can’t get my head around the courgettes - is choc cake really better with than without?!
(25.09.06 @ 10:54 am)
John - it’s a leap of faith!
(25.09.06 @ 11:40 am)
Really enjoying reading your articles and was drawn to this recipe as I love courgettes and chocolate! I am always looking for new ways to cook this fab veg so I can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ll let you know my verdict. Thanks for sharing.
Sara from farmingfriends in Yorkshire
(11.05.07 @ 7:59 am)
Hi Sara - Welcome to P’Soup. I’m glad you’re enjoying the site and have found something you can try. I have checked out your blog and will add you to my blogroll.
(11.05.07 @ 8:52 am)
Hi Clare, Thanks for the link, it’s much appreciated. May I put a link to this recipe in my article on Courgettes?
Sara from farmingfriends in Yorkshire
(11.05.07 @ 9:25 am)
Sara - Most definitely - I’m a bit of a link hussy!
(11.05.07 @ 9:29 am)
the chocolate courgette cake is in the oven….could you please tell me where you buy your cake tins??? i can’t find decent tins WITHOUT teflon linings anymore. thankyou.
(06.09.07 @ 8:30 am)
Hi Clare, just wanted to say that I have now tried this cake and it is delicious and was easy to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Sara from farmingfriends
(08.09.07 @ 2:59 pm)
My neighbour borrowed the eggs from me to do this and brought me some as a reward. I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was! Neither could my husband, daughter or 6 year old granddaughter.
(15.09.07 @ 6:36 pm)
Blimey! There’s been a burst of baking activity!
francofile - our tin is teflon free, but I@m not sure wher we got it from, it was so long ago we bought it. Sainsbury’s seem to do some veyr nice ceramic-y baking stuff that’s excellent. We have a couple of roasting tins from there and I can’t recommend them highly enough. I hope you enjoyed the loaf.
Sara - I’m really glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know how you got on.
Penny - It gets even better with age. If you let it sit, wrapped in foil for about a week, it becomes even more moist and earthier. Not that we often manage to let it last for that long! Glad you enjoyed it.
(15.09.07 @ 10:17 pm)
thats gross, and mean crushing up poor little catterpillars what they do to you? lets see someone try and eat ur lil soul and ur sitting there minding ur own bussiness…XD…ooh gee willigers..dont get offended by what im saying i guess i just dont like killing something, like when it comes to bugs or animals unless its ya know? bothering me or causing me trouble lol. if you want to eat them so be it…but i still think its nasty and mean…NOT YUMMMY! lol bye having fun eating it…hope none of them have ring worms =O
(26.04.08 @ 2:56 am)