This week I have another recipe from fellow foodie Jen Pomeroy (www.themodernmess.com). As per usual at this time of year the courgettes take over the vege patch. Jen was telling me she had planted 4 courgette plants this year, which was one less than last summer, and she’s still trying to cope with them all ripening at the same time. Puts my single plant to shame, but I’ve still got the same problem.

If you aren’t picking almost daily, in the blink of an eye they turn into marrows! This rich moist cake is a nice way to use up any extra courgettes you have before they end up the size of a marrow football.

Enjoy!

COURGETTE DATE & CHOCOLATE CAKE

Recipe by Jen Pomeroy - The Modern Mess

INGREDIENTS

200 g dried dates, chopped in half
½ c (125 ml) boiling water
125 g butter 
50 g ground almonds
3 eggs
½ c maple syrup 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
300 g (2 c) plain flour 
50 g cacao powder or good quality cocoa 
2 tsp baking soda 
2 tsp allspice or cinnamon 
½ tsp salt 
3 c (about 400g) courgette, grated
½ c Greek yoghurt 
100 g good quality dark chocolate (used Whittakers 72% dark Ghana), roughly chopped

METHOD

Pre heat oven to 160°C (fan bake). Pour boiling water over chopped dates and leave to soften.

Cream butter with a beater or stand mixer. Add the ground almonds and 2 tbspn of the flour to stabilize. Mix well before adding the eggs one at a time, beating well between each one and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mash the dates with a fork, and add to the cake batter with the vanilla extract and maple syrup. Mix to combine.

Sift in the flour, cacao powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix until nearly incorporated, then add the grated courgette, yoghurt and half the chopped chocolate. Mix gently until just combined. Pour the batter into a greased and lined 25 cm cake tin, ideally with a spring form bottom. Sprinkle remaining chocolate over the top.

Bake for approximately 1 hour (depending on your oven), until a skewer comes out clean or the cake bounces back when touched. This cake will take about 20 minutes longer in a 22cm cake tin.

Serve with Greek yoghurt or whipped cream or half and half is nice.

**For Dairy Free…
Swap out the butter for ½ cup of olive oil, and the yoghurt for coconut yoghurt. Whisk the wet ingredients together. Fold in the dry ingredients and the grated courgette. The texture is slightly different so it pays to squeeze as much liquid out of the courgettes as possible before adding.

I also cooked it in a small roasting tray - 25cm x 30cm and it only took 40 minutes.