COOKBOOKS GALORE

I went to tea with a friend recently and she'd made this loaf cake. If you're on a diet, look away now! It involves chocolate, peanut butter and courgettes, but you wouldn't guess about the courgettes as they add moisture but no flavour. The negative bit is that you use several bowls, but the end result is well worth it! So for the loaf you need:  2 small courgettes grated [leave the skin on], 2 eggs, 80ml honey, 120ml vegetable oil, 100g soft brown sugar, 2 tspn vanilla extract, 1/2 tspn bicarb, 1 tspn baking powder, 200g plain flour, 75g smooth peanut butter, 1/2 tspn instant coffee, 25g cocoa, 50g chocolate cut into pieces and 25g chocolate melted with 25g smooth peanut butter. Preheat oven 170C           Line a 900g loaf tin with baking paper In bowl A mix together the courgettes, eggs, honey, oil, sugar and vanilla extract. In another bowl B sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarb together, then add to the batter. In yet anoth...

There are lots of blueberries around at the moment and I love them. I've been eating some every morning with my cereal, but decided I wanted to make a cake. This is one of our favourite loaf cakes, but with a streusel topping. The original recipe was from an American website so has been converted from cups - hence the odd amounts. I've tweaked the recipe because it had way too much sugar in the cake. I like making cakes with oil - makes me think they're healthier! So, preheat oven 190C/gas5 Grease a 900g loaf tin. Put 80g granulated sugar in a bowl with 60ml sunflower oil. Mix together with an electric mixer, then add 1 egg, 250ml milk and 1 tspn vanilla extract and beat till smooth and creamy. Fold in 280g plain flour which has been sieved with 3 tspns baking powder. Mix to a batter without lumps.  Put 220g blueberries in a bowl and add 1 tbspn flour and coat the berries with it. Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour into the tin and smo...