Loaf cake is (I think) an American concept. It’s a rich spongy cake baked in a loaf tin. Think lemon drizzle cake. Usually the loaf is not iced because of the richness of the cake. The recipe uses a large courgette and makes 3 one pound loaves or a single very large loaf. It’s easy, it’s quick and it makes a dent in the courgette tsunami. You go from ingredients to cake in an hour and 15 minutes. That includes hand chopping the walnuts and hand grating the courgette. The recipe is loosely based on a recipe from the lovely people at King Arthur Flour.

You can also make gorgeous muffins with this recipe. Makes about 18 muffins. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C and bake for 25 minutes.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 courgette (zucchini) of about 350 grams, coarsely grated
• 90 grams chopped walnuts
• 125 grams plain white flour
• 125 grams whole wheat flour
• 375 grams caster sugar
• 65 grams cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 350 mls vegetable oil (corn or other neutral tasting oil)

Method

1. Prep your courgette and your walnuts. Put to one side.
2. Preheat the oven to 170C if using one pound (small) loaf tins, 180C if using a two pound (large) loaf tin.
3. Prep your tins. I line mine with paper but you can also grease (use hard fat like butter or lard that solidifies if refrigerated) and flour.
4. Combine all the dry ingredients (from the flour to the cinnamon) in a large mixing bowl. Either sift together or whisk thoroughly. The batter will be heavy and needs both baking powder and baking soda to lift it. The leavening agents need to be will distributed throughout the batter. If not, you may hear a subdued ‘whump’ from inside your oven during baking. There will be some batter left in the pans but a fair amount will be on the walls of the oven. Essentially a gas bubble can form and it’s like a magma explosion. The dry ingredients are inert until you add liquid so whisk away.
5. Measure the oil and add the eggs, stirring to break up the yolks. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well. I wouldn’t use the KitchenAid because you’ll beat the eggs to death.
6. Fold in the nuts and the courgette.
7. Place in the prepared pan or pans. I use my ice cream scoop.
8. Large pan – bake at 180C for 55 minutes. Test with a long toothpick (should come out clean) or your thermometer (90C ). Small pans – bake at 170C for 45 minutes and test as above for doneness.

If you’ve got a courgette tsunami or a zucchini avalanche – there’s a blog post coming soon with Top 10 recipes for courgettes. All yummy and all quite easy.

Thanks for reading the blog, hope you’re enjoying the recipes. Send photos or leave comments with questions, your baking tips or requests for future recipes.

Tags: chocolate courgette cakechocolate courgette loafchocolate zucchini cakechocolate zucchini loafcourgette tsunamicourgetteszucchinizucchini avalanche