Chocolate Courgette Cake

I made this cake for my son the other day, we are not big cake eaters, so wasted on us really and I love making cakes! So my son always gets one when I call in to see him.  One of his favourites is a caraway seed cake, which I used to make for them when they were small, the other being a chocolate cake.  I asked him to spot the 'secret' ingredient and he guessed straight away! He knows me so well! 

CHOCOLATE COURGETTE CAKE

350g self-raising flour

50g cocoa powder
1 tsp mixed spice
175ml olive oil
375g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
500ml grated courgettes 
140g toasted hazelnuts , roughly chopped

FOR THE ICING
200g dark chocolate , chopped
100ml double cream

1.Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, mixed spice and 1 tsp salt. In another bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and grated courgette. Mix the dry and wet mixture until just combined, then fold in the toasted hazelnuts. Line a 24cm cake tin with greaseproof paper, then pour in your mixture. Bake for about 40-50 mins, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

2.To make the icing, place the chocolate in a bowl and bring cream to the boil in a saucepan. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until completely smooth and melted. Leave the icing to cool slightly and thicken, then spread it over the cake so it's covered and the icing starts to drip down the sides.

I also had enough mixture to make 4 little cakes, so we were able to try it, and no you wouldn't know it had courgettes in it!