Chocolate Courgette Loaf Cake

08/01/2021 by thebakingexplorer 29 Comments

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If you want to have your cake and eat your vegetables too, this Chocolate Courgette Loaf Cake is a great solution! Before you ask, no you cannot taste the courgette at all, I promise! My partner hates courgette and he happily ate a slice of this yummy cake. If you are in the US you will know this as Chocolate Zucchini Cake or Zucchini Bread. What the courgette does is make the cake super moist, and add some hidden nutrition. I've also made this cake with coconut sugar and wholemeal flour for some extra goodness. This Chocolate Courgette Loaf Cake is still a bit of a treat of course, as it's got tasty dark chocolate chips throughout, plus a drizzle of dark chocolate on top!

Ingredient Tips & Equipment Information

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
For the best flavour, make sure to use a good quality vanilla extract and not an essence. You can also use a vanilla bean paste.
I used coconut sugar to make this cake, it's a great option if you're avoiding refined sugars. However you can use light brown soft sugar or caster sugar if you prefer instead.
You can swap the plain wholemeal flour for regular plain flour if you prefer.
Or if you can only find self raising wholemeal flour, then you can omit the baking powder.
You will need a 2lb loaf tin for this recipe (you can test the size of your loaf tin by seeing how much water the tin can hold, 2lb will hold about 2 pints/1100ml of water). If you have a 1lb loaf tin, simply halve the ingredient amounts.
For easy lining of the tin, use a loaf cake tin liner*.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales*. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons* and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.

For the full recipe with measurements, head to the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to make Chocolate Courgette Loaf Cake

In a bowl, stir together self raising flour, plain wholemeal flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, coconut sugar and cocoa powder. Add the grated courgette and dark chocolate chips, and stir them in. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, yoghurt and vegetable oil, then add it to the flour and courgette mix. Combine everything together.

Put the mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake it for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

What is the best way to grate the courgette?

You don't need to peel courgette before you grate it, just chop off the end. I used a box grater and grated it by hand. You can also grate the courgette using a food processor with a grating attachment.

How should the cake be stored and can it be frozen?

The cake should be stored in an airtight container in a cool place, and eaten within 3 days. If you would like to freeze it, you can freeze the whole cake or freeze it in slices. Once it has fully cooled, wrap the cake or slices well in cling film (plastic wrap) and freeze for up to 3 months. It also helps to put squares of baking paper between the slices so they are easier to separate and defrost a couple at a time.

Can you make this loaf cake with plain/all purpose flour?

Self raising flour, which is very commonly used in the UK where I am based, already contains a raising agent and a little salt too. Therefore if you want to swap it for plain or all purpose flour, you will need to add some additional baking powder and also a little salt if you like. Some people like to add salt to cake recipes and some don't, so I'll leave that up to you as it won't affect the bake. The general advice is to add 2 teaspoons baking powder (a measuring teaspoon, not the kind you stir your coffee with) per every 200g plain or all purpose flour. So for this recipe you'd need to add an additional ½ teaspoon of baking powder. Please note, I have not tested this recipe using plain or all purpose flour.

Can this loaf cake be made gluten or dairy free?

Yes! For gluten free you can replace the wholemeal plain flour with a gluten free plain flour blend, and the self raising flour with a gluten free self raising flour blend. If you only have a gluten free plain flour blend, you will need to add baking powder. The general advice is to add 2 tsp baking powder per 200g flour, so for this recipe you'd need to add an additional ½ teaspoon of baking powder. You may also like to add ¼ tsp Xantham Gum for better texture. For a dairy free version, use a dairy free yoghurt and dairy free dark chocolate.

Do you have to use coconut sugar?

If you can't get hold of coconut sugar you can use light brown sugar, or caster sugar.

Do you have to use wholemeal flour?

No, if you want to use regular flour instead you can swap the wholemeal flour for plain flour or self raising flour. If you swap it for self raising flour, then you can omit the baking powder.

Do you need an electric mixer to make this cake?

No, in fact I find this cake easier to make by hand with a hand whisk or spatula/spoon. You could use a stand mixer, but keep it on a low speed to avoid over mixing.

More tips for making the Chocolate Courgette Loaf Cake:

I also tested this recipe with 150g sugar, I have a big sweet tooth so I preferred the slighter higher amount, but you can use the lesser amount if you want to reduce the sugar.
If you want to use all wholemeal flour, you will need to add an extra ½ tsp baking powder. If you want to use all self raising flour, you should omit the baking powder.
I used dark chocolate chips, you can omit them, or you can use milk or white chocolate chips if you like instead.

Troubleshooting

If you have any questions about this recipe, or if something went wrong and you need help, please use the comment form below and I will get back to you. You can also get in touch with me on my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!

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