Healthier Chocolate Cake

So we all know that kids love birthday cake and hey who can blame them! Now I'm all for everything in moderation but if I could make it slightly healthier then that's a bonus right?

I was looking online for a healthier cake option when I came across a great courgette muffin recipe from Mandy at Sneaky Veg Blog. It inspired me to come up with my own chocolate cake recipe. 

Now while this chocolate cake is refined sugar free it does contain honey which is still a source of sugar so this is reserved for special occasions. Please note that honey should not be given to children under 1 year old. 

Now adding a vegetable to a cake is not something that sounds right but trust me it works. By finely grating courgette into this cake you can not even tell that it's there. I feel slightly smug that my children are eating cake with courgette and they can not even tell.

Healthier Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

170g self raising flour                   

30g cocoa powder                           

1 tsp baking powder                   

125g honey                                  

200g unsalted butter                 

3 large eggs                              

1 small courgette                        

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Finely grate the courgette into a tea towel and squeeze out the water. I peeled the courgette but you can keep the skin on. Allow the butter to soften then cream with a mixer. Add the honey to the butter and cream together. Then add in each egg one at a time and mix well. Add the grated courgette into the mixture until well combined.

In a separate bowl sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together. Then add the wet bowl to the dry bowl and mix until well combined. Then evenly distribute the mixture between two circular cake tins. Bake for around 20/25 minutes until cooked through and springy.

I then decorated the with some healthier buttercream icing. Now again this contains honey so should be used as a treat and not as an everyday food. 

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

115g unsalted butter

130g honey

15g cocoa powder

Cream the butter until smooth and creamy. Add in the honey and cream well. Sift the cocoa powder into the mixture and mix well until all combined.