Chocolate and butternut squash marble cake

When I think about veggie cakes I think carrot cake, don’t you? Well, these days you can find cake recipes with all sorts of vegetables in them but until now, for some reason, I had not really explored this cooking universe myself.

Flipping through a French cookery magazine a girlfriend of mine offered me, Saveurs, I discovered this wonderful recipe of chocolate and butternut squash marble cake. I did not think much of it at the beginning but as I had butternut squash puree in the freezer (we love butternut squash soup) I thought I would give it a go. I tweaked the original recipe as I did not have the exact same ingredients but I used the core of the recipe.

I think I expected the cake to be a bit blend but it was sooo delicious, this is definitely a recipe to do over and over again. The butternut squash makes the cake really moist and the combination of vanilla, chocolate and squash is just amazing. This cake is simply wonderful. I have made it three times in the last month and each time it did not last more than half a day. A week ago I made it for a children’s birthday party and by the time I made it to the cakes table there was none left (!!!). It is loved by children and adults alike. 

Finally, as almost half of the cake is pure butternut squash, this definitely counts as a naughty-but-nice-treat and it can be a great way to (re-) introduce squash to a child, who would not eat it in the first place. One of my blogger friend has actually dedicated her blog to vegetable desserts Veggie Desserts if ever you were looking for more recipes of the sort.  Next time I may well try a cake with spinach! I promise I will share the recipe if it turns out as beautiful as this one…

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Chocolate and butternut squash marble cake

Course: Snack

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

The butternut squash makes the cake really moist and the combination of vanilla, chocolate and squash is just amazing.

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Ingredients

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 70 g butter
• 100 g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300 g butternut squash cooked and mashed
• 130 g self-rising flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 70 g ground almonds
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 tbsp butternut squash seeds optional

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs, the butternut squash and mix until well combined.
4. In another bowl, combine the self-rising our and the salt with the ground almonds. Add this to the previous mixture and mix until you get a smooth texture.

5. Split the mixture between the two bowls. Add the melted chocolate to the first half of the mixture. Split the vanilla pod length-ways and using a teaspoon, scoop out the seeds into the second half of the mixture.

6. Pour half of the chocolate mixture into a baking tin lined with parchment paper, then the vanilla mixture, then the second half of the chocolate mixture. Mix together slightly just so that the mixture is swirled. Add the butternut squash seeds on top.
7. Bake in the oven for an hour, until a cake-tester/knife comes out clean.

Recipe Notes

My oven is a bit funny these days so last time I had to increase a bit the cooking time and cover the top with aluminium foil so as it would cook the cake inside without burning the top of it.