Deep Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Courgette Cake

Another event another cake to bake!

This weekend was the FUSS craft market and considering I've been a bit slack with FUSS recently due to work commitments and also stretching myself thin - doing stuff for the WI, and DIY stuff in my flat, I decided I should make up by baking a load for the market...

Fortunately I have started baking on random nights I have free and freezing them straight away. Which has turned out to be a godsend for such situations! So I pulled out an Apple & Banana Bundt out of the freezer yesterday and last night baked a batch of my mum's famous flapjacks and also a chocolate courgette cake. Again something my mum used to make when I was a kid. Ironically we never really had carrot cake but instead had chic courgette cake, which I found out today was pretty unheard off!

I love recipes that have a story, a bit of history to them.. I ended up combining my mum's recipe with an american bundt recipe, thus the 'cup' measurements.

NOTE: This cake was devoured off the FUSS stand rather quickly!

1/2 cup Stork Margarine

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 cups grated unpeeled Courgettes (about 2 smallish, or 1 large)
3/4 cup Plain chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C and oil a Bundt pan & lightly dust with flour. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar on high speed with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add a third to the butter mixture and beat just until blended; add half the sour cream and do the same. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream, and the rest of the flour. Stir in the zucchini and the nuts and/or chocolate chips, if you’re using them, and pour the thick batter into the pan, smoothing the top.

Bake for an hour & 10mins, until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. 

Invert onto a rack and allow too cool or pop on a cake stand & serve with creme fraiche while still warm! 

Or you can make a Sour Cream Chocolate Ganache (as seen on the bundt below!)

Still working in cups....

1 Cup of chocolate (dark or milk or both, whatever you have to hand)
3/4 Cup of Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Break up the chocolate into pieces into a heat-proof bowl.
Bring a pan of water to boil, pop a heat-proof boil over the top and turn off the heat.
Leave for a while (good point to look at the horrific mess you've created in the kitchen and potentially clean it up). Enough faffing...
Mix the vanilla essence into the sour cream and then pour into the melted chocolate. Beat until you get a smooth consistency and then pour over the cake and dust with cocoa powder.

Serves 8-16.

The Big Red

THE BIG RED is a kooky new pizza restaurant to open in Deptford, actually it's been there for a while. But considering I have only just found out about it, it feels like it's brand new! Anyway, off I went to try it out with a helping second opinion from Jo. Jo has very kindly offered to assist me in my search of new places in the local area! Thanks Jo (at the time she didn't realise I'd end up dragging her to a crazy play where she ended up having water dropped on her head!? :s Yeah, sorry about that )


I believe it was originally an old disused double Decker bus that is situated next door to the Bird's nest pub before it was transformed into The Big Red. Such a brilliant idea!
So as you can guess, all the indoor seating is situated inside the bus (upstairs and downstairs) and then there is the seating outside on the decking, half of which is covered by a canopy.


They also offer hiring out the whole bus if you fancied having a party there. They're happy to offer this this on either a Wednesday or Thursday.
I think the idea is great and the design of the website is great - really love it!




Wonder if Jo got very far?....



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Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake Success!

It's taken me quite some time to get this post on the blog. Better late than never.

I found this fabulous recipe on http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com it is so incredibly moorish and the caramel graze just takes it to the next level! (I nearly didn't do the glaze, big mistake if I hadn't) Plus it's full of fruit, so it's got to be slightly ..healthy?? ;)

I first made this cake for ELF cafe and blinked and it was gone. So if you want to make a winner this is the recipe for you! Oh now I went and got myself a set of 'cups' as I was ending up making so many recipes with that were measured using cups, it just seemed sensible. I have just made it a second time, just now. But instead of using white plain flour I used wholemeal self-raising flour - it's in the oven now, so it'll be interesting to see how it comes out.

Before I go on to tell you the recipe I thought I'd mention a useful piece of equipment you may want to get when baking American style recipes that use 'cups' as a measuring device. To save time working out conversions these set of measuring cups really help. Most catering shops sell them but you can also get them online.

Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze

Makes one 12-cup Bundt or tube cake (or can be baked in two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans)

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 5 to 6 ounces vanilla or plain yogurt (one standard-sized small container; Greek yogurt is preferred, sour cream may be substituted)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon mixed all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 large bananas)
• 1 cup finely diced apples (1 medium apple; I used one unpeeled Gala apple)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan or tube cake pan very well with cooking spray (I use Pam For Baking with Flour and it worked so well for me that this cake literally fell out of the pan while I was beginning to inverting it before I was properly set up to catch the cake on a cutting board) or grease and flour the pan; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. To the melted butter, add canola oil, yogurt, eggs, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves (all spices should be added to taste and if you don’t have all of them on hand, not a big deal to omit some) and whisk until batter is smooth and silky, about 1 minute of vigorous whisking. Add the bananas, apples, and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which would result in a tougher cake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 39 to 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean (or insert a sharp long-blade chef’s knife and it should come out clean). Allow cake to cool in pan for at least 15 minutes before inverting it and removing cake.

While cake is cooling, make the caramel sauce. Optionally, while cake is cooling poke approximately 25 holes in the top surface of the cake with a chopstick or popsicle stick. The holes will allow the glaze to seep into the cake’s interior, creating a delicious caramel-apple flavor; the drawback is that it’s not quite as pretty when sliced, but since you’re not likely going to take pictures of the cake’s interior surfaces, I’d poke the holes.

Vanilla Caramel Glaze

• Makes about 1 cup glaze, enough to generously glaze the cake
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (half of 1 stick)
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups+ confectioners’ sugar, sifted (must be sifted)

Note: This is a fast moving recipe; have everything in place before you begin.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring nearly continuously. Allow the mixture to boil quite rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring nearly continuously. Remove the pan from the burner, allow it to cool for about 1 minute, and add the cream, taking caution because the mixture could bubble vigorously. Whisk aggressively to incorporate the cream and calm the bubbling.

After the bubbling has subsided, add the vanilla and whisk to combine, using caution because the alcohol in the extract could cause the mixture to bubble up again. Add the confectioners’ sugar one-half cup at a time, until desired sauce consistency is reached (I absolutely recommend using sifted sugar so the glaze is whisks up smooth, silky, and free from lumps). Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set up for a few minutes if desired; or slice and serve immediately. Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. If there is extra unused glaze, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month; gently reheat it in the microwave prior to glazing another dessert.

I finished this all off with a splattering of melted dark chocolate ;)
Hmm was soo tasty think I shall make another one this weekend!