Chocolate and Ginger cake with a surprise

"I am literally going to be sick" said my daughter as she watched me make a cake with a grated courgette in it. To be fair, the finished article looked and tasted like something you'd eat in a vegan cafe, so I gave it away in pieces - but no-one could identify the mystery ingredient.

A couple of weeks later I served up a sumptuous chocolate and ginger cake which met with great approval and requests for seconds. I kept quiet until they'd finished, then crowed "You've just eaten courgette cake!" (in a childish playground kind of voice). But there were no retching noises, no shrieks of horror, for they had actually enjoyed it.

A divine combination of moist, light chocolatey-gingery sponge topped with gooey chocolate studded with pieces of sweet ginger - and ludicrously easy to make.

Chocolate, courgette and ginger cake

Chocolate, Courgette and Ginger cake

90ml mild and light olive oil
200g caster sugar
2 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g grated courgette (peel the skin off and discard any seeds)
175g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt

Icing: 60ml double cream
100g dark chocolate, chopped
A tablespoon of chopped stem ginger in syrup

Heat the oven to 180/gas 4. Put the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and courgette in a bowl and mix well. Add the flour, cocoa, ginger and salt and mix again. Transfer to a lined 20cm cake tin (or an 18cm square in my case) and bake for 30-35 minutes. Turn out to cool after 10 minutes.

To make the icing: Bring the cream to the boil in a pan. Take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate. When it's melted, add a heaped tablespoon of ginger (not too much syrup), mix again and spoon it over the cake while still warm.

This cake has been entered in the We Should Cocoa recipe challenge hosted by JibberJabberUK (lip-smacking family food) and (the heavenly) Chocolate Log Blog!

Chocolate chip shortbread

It's going to be a lovely day tomorrow. Really. So do your time in the kitchen today and be ready to get outdoors when the sun starts shining.

Whatever the weather, these chocolate chip shortbread rounds will not disappoint. Crisp, crunchy, buttery shortbread with chunks of dark and white chocolate (such as left-over Easter eggs). You could even go wild and add a handful of nuts.

Just add tea

Chocolate chip shortbread

225g butter

100g caster sugar

¼ teaspoon salt (if you're using unsalted butter; a generous pinch if not)

225g plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

125g chocolate (any type), chopped

Pre-heat oven to 150/gas 2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and chocolate and stir to form a stiff dough. Roll into walnut-sized rounds, flatten each one slightly and place on a baking tray at least 3cm apart. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from baking tray and cool on a rack.

Say it with lemon drizzle cake

My absent husband left a Valentine's card for me in his underwear drawer. He was surprised I hadn't found it. Does he think I dress up in his pants when he goes away? I hope you have not had any such unsavoury encounters; maybe you're starting to feel guilty that you haven't made much effort... Don't panic, there's still time to make cake for the one you love.

Lemon dribble cake - you'll be drooling over it

You can't see the lemon glaze because I added red food colouring to it (but used unbleached caster sugar). That's what happens when you try and be clever.

Valentine's Day lemon cake

175g butter
175g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
1½ level teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
grated rind of 1½ lemons

Topping:
juice of 1½ lemons with 175g caster sugar

Pre-heat oven to 180/gas 4. Put all the ingredients in a bowl together and beat for a couple of minutes. Bake for about 35-40 minutes and leave to cool in the tin. While it's cooling, mix the lemon juice and sugar together and tip it over the top.

I usually make this as a traybake in a tin measuring 12 x 9 inches.