Savoury, Sweet, Sandwich, Sponge! (Courgette [Zucchini] and Chocolate Sponge Sandwiches with Buttercream)

Courgette and Chocolate Sponge Sandwiches

So I was watching TV the other day and saw somebody put courgette in a cake...
The idea of this was not something I like. Savoury and sweet, do not go in my opinion, and on the rare occasion I do mix the two (cranberry sauce on roast chicken), I like the sweet to be really sharp!
Pineapple on pizza, bacon with maple syrup, and strawberries in a salad, are my main culprits that annoy me... but courgette in cake? Really? Gross.

However, being the curious cook that I am, I would never completely write something off until I'd tasted it myself, or inflicted my cooking on everyone else... I decided to give this a go, I researched plenty of recipes, different ideas and combinations and came up with my own recipe that I thought might make this weird combination, actually feasible.

I love chocolate, it's a great carrier of flavour, and super sweet, I thought this would be a good base for my cake. The addition of buttercream also, means this really is a sweet dish, with the addition of a savoury element, as opposed to a confused dish, unsure whether it's meant to be savoury or not!

And do you know what, it worked! In my head, it should've tasted wrong, my taste buds were confused at first, but then they were content with this new flavour and wonderful texture that courgette had added to a cake! To be honest, you can't really taste it. I was expecting this massive flavour of courgette and didn't get it, but it created a lovely moist, yet light texture.

Here's my recipe, if you want to be weirded out, and delighted by food at the same time...

Ingredients

For the cake

• 100g of finely grated courgette (peel removed beforehand)
• 90g milk chocolate
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs
• 50g soft, light, brown sugar
• 90ml vegetable oil
• 120g plain flour, sifted
• 2 tsp ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted

For the buttercream

• 100g butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Method

For the cake

• Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas. Line a muffin/cupcake tin with 12 paper cases.
• Place your grated courgette, into a clean tea towel and ring out any excess liquid and put the courgette to one side.
• Melt your chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat once melted and leave to cool slightly.
• Place the eggs, sugar, oil and cocoa powder in a bowl, and whisk together. 
• Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground almonds and stir together until combined.
• Add the courgette and melted chocolate and stir until well combined.
• Spoon the mixture evenly into the cases, and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Leave to one side, or on a wire rack, to cool.

For the buttercream

• To make your buttercream, simply cream the butter, gradually add your icing sugar, beating until combined. 
• Add the milk and beat until well mixed. 
• Put into an piping bag with a medium nozzle. 
• Place in the fridge if the mixture is too soft to pipe.

To assemble

• Remove the cakes from their cases.
• On half of the cakes, even the tops with a knife, so they are level. (Keep the bits of cake you have levelled off if you want to create a butterfly effect)
• Using the levelled cakes as a base, pipe the buttercream on the top of the cake and then sandwich with an un-levelled cake.
• Place some more buttercream on the top. 
• If you have kept the left over pieces of cake, cut them into even size pieces and place on the top of each cake to create a butterfly effect.
• Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Yum!

For my worldwide readers... Courgette is Zucchini!