Mini Chocolate Courgette and Raspberry Bundt Cakes with Raspberry Cream

Whew, what a long title.  I couldn’t think of what to call these though.  One suggestion when I took them into share at work was ‘5+ a day cakes’ because they are packed with courgettes, raspberry and walnuts.  However, don’t let that put you off making them – yes, they have healthy ingredients in them, but they are delicious and you would never be able to tell how much courgette has actually gone into them; you can’t really taste it.  I’ve had a couple of requests for the recipe from the few people who tried these cute little cakes, because they are seriously that good.

I made my cakes using a mini bundt tin, but you could use ordinary muffin tins.  Using my bundt tin, the recipe made 30 mini cakes.  I also served my cakes with Raspberry cream, but you could just serve them with a light dusting of icing sugar.

Ingredients:
Cakes:
¾ cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups grated courgette (about 6 courgettes)
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
⅔ cup evaporated milk
2 cups frozen raspberries, thawed and excess liquid removed

Raspberry Cream:
2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 ½ teaspoons raspberry powder
300ml cream
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Prepare (grease or line) baking tins if necessary. 
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Mix in the courgette, walnuts and vanilla essence.
In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients.  Mix the dry ingredients into the courgette mixture in 3 lots, alternating with the evaporated milk.  Fold through the raspberries.  Spoon the mixture into the baking tins.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted can be removed cleanly.  Leave to cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cool rack to cool completely.

To make the raspberry cream:
Beat together the cream, vanilla essence and icing sugar until you are happy with the consistency of the cream.  Add the raspberry powder and beat again, until just mixed through.

*I decorated my cakes by filling the hole left by the bundt tin with the raspberry cream, dusting with icing sugar, and sprinkling with chocolate crunch bits that I purchased from The Pretty Baker.  I purchased the mini bundt tin from Stevens.