Let me first tell you how I came up with these three things. Well, I found myself with an abundance of carrots and courgettes (and also mushrooms) in my fridge so I decided to make a batch of ragu using these vegetables finely grated in it. I have frozen some to use later. And chocolate...I had a large and tempting bar of cooking chocolate in my kitchen pantry which I wanted to use before its use by date.
I still had an excess of vegetables so my next plan was to make cakes. I made a carrot and walnut cake, and a courgette cake. Some of you may have heard of a courgette cake but those of you who haven't, it really works! It was the first time I've made it and it looked and tasted like a real sponge cake.
So here are the recipes
Carrot and Walnut Cake
150g wholemeal self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground mixed spice
7 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 medium eggs
100g butter or reduced fat spread. I love to use Flora Cuisine in baking, it is already in liquid form so you don't have to soften it as you would with butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g finely grated carrots
60g roughly chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to fan 160C
Line a cake tin with baking parchment
Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix together
Place the mixture into the tin and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the tin size.
Courgette Cake
I couldn't find the photo of it but it did look very similar to the carrot cake above!
250g finely grated courgette
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
75g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, and grease and line a cake tin
Make sure the grated courgette is sieved to remove excess water.
Cream the eggs, sugar and oil in a bowl.
Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and mix well.
Stir in the courgetter
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes
Test it with a wooden skewer and if it comes out dry then it is ready.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out.
Variation
Add in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder and half a teaspoon of mixed spice.
Add in 50g chopped walnuts and the juice and zest of 1 orange
Finally, I made a chocolate cake for A's birthday which happened to fall on Friday13th this year. I'm not a very superstitious person but I am very conscious of days like Friday13th, and while I don't have a fear of it, I do feel slightly relieved when it has passed without incident.
It is the best chocolate cake I've ever made, and it can only get better so I am now waiting for the next occasion to bake a cake. I usually have a homemade maderia cake at all times, but I have built up a resistance to it which means I can bake the cake and not eat any of it. I haven't managed to do with chocolate cake yet. When I make a chocolate cake, I EAT chocolate cake!
Here's how I made it
225g Self raising flour
35g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
4 tablespoons water
125g caster sugar
125g light brown sugar
150g butter
3 medium eggs, beaten
150ml cream
Preheat oven to fan 160C
Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins with baking parchment
Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.
Place chocolate and water in a small heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water
Using an electric whisk, cream the sugars and butter together until light and fluffy
Gradually add the beaten eggs, with a little of the flour after each addition
Add the cream and the melted chocolate
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until firm
Leave the cake to cool
To make the ganache, place 200g plain chocolate, broken into pieces with 300ml double cream over a bain marie until well combined and melted.
Pour over the centre of the cake and gently spread out over the top and sides of the cake
I made mine using a bundt cake mould and it works just as well!
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