Mini Chocolate Courgette and Raspberry Bundt Cakes with Raspberry Cream

Whew, what a long title.  I couldn’t think of what to call these though.  One suggestion when I took them into share at work was ‘5+ a day cakes’ because they are packed with courgettes, raspberry and walnuts.  However, don’t let that put you off making them – yes, they have healthy ingredients in them, but they are delicious and you would never be able to tell how much courgette has actually gone into them; you can’t really taste it.  I’ve had a couple of requests for the recipe from the few people who tried these cute little cakes, because they are seriously that good.

I made my cakes using a mini bundt tin, but you could use ordinary muffin tins.  Using my bundt tin, the recipe made 30 mini cakes.  I also served my cakes with Raspberry cream, but you could just serve them with a light dusting of icing sugar.

Ingredients:
Cakes:
¾ cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups grated courgette (about 6 courgettes)
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
⅔ cup evaporated milk
2 cups frozen raspberries, thawed and excess liquid removed

Raspberry Cream:
2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 ½ teaspoons raspberry powder
300ml cream
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Prepare (grease or line) baking tins if necessary. 
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Mix in the courgette, walnuts and vanilla essence.
In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients.  Mix the dry ingredients into the courgette mixture in 3 lots, alternating with the evaporated milk.  Fold through the raspberries.  Spoon the mixture into the baking tins.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted can be removed cleanly.  Leave to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cool rack to cool completely.

To make the raspberry cream:
Beat together the cream, vanilla essence and icing sugar until you are happy with the consistency of the cream.  Add the raspberry powder and beat again, until just mixed through.

*I decorated my cakes by filling the hole left by the bundt tin with the raspberry cream, dusting with icing sugar, and sprinkling with chocolate crunch bits that I purchased from The Pretty Baker.  I purchased the mini bundt tin from Stevens.

Lunchbox Bakes – Ham, Egg and Courgette Cups

These Ham, Egg and Courgette Cups are quick to prepare and are something just a little more special to have for breakfast or lunch (they go well with a salad).  Great for feeding a crowd too!

24 slices shaved ham
2 large courgette (zucchini)
3 eggs
⅓ cup cream
⅔ cup grated cheddar cheese
4 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease 8 holes of a 12 hole muffin tin.  Line each hole with the ham (use three pieces and overlap them so there are no gaps).  Grate the courgette and squeeze out the excess liquid.
Whisk the eggs and cream in a medium sized bowl.  Stir in the courgette and grated cheese.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin hole and top with a segment of tomato.  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked.  Stand for 5 minutes before serving.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes, head along to our Lunchbox Bakes page.

Blueberry and Courgette Loaf

We made this loaf in the weekend and man it was yum!  I’ve been busy making some cushion covers for a buyer through my felt. shop and haven’t done any baking lately, but really wanted to try out this recipe because I couldn’t imagine what courgettes and blueberries would taste like together, it sounds disgusting.  However, the loaf was delicious – sweet and moist and eaten up pretty quickly!  And, I suppose it kinda counts towards your 5+ a day of fruit and veg - did you know the courgette is actually a fruit?  Personally I couldn’t really taste the courgette but you see flecks of green through the loaf which looked quite pretty with the purple blue colour of the blueberries.

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 175°C.  Lightly grease 2 loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Fold in the zucchini.  Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Transfer to the prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre of a loaf comes out clean.  Cool for 20 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.