Chocolate & Courgette Cake

Seen as it's Autumn now, I thought it would only be fitting to do an Autumn inspired bake, (especially as all I want to do is bake after the Great British Bake Off) and with a humungous yellow courgette in my fridge, what better way? But of course, I wanted to make it extra tasty... My answer? Add chocolate!
I couldn't taste the courgette particularly, but it added a lovely depth to the cake that I don't expect you'd get with a plain chocolate cake. I also added walnuts, which gave the cake a lovely crunch. Think Carrot Cake, but chocolate... For the topping, I made a chocolate cream icing (which went down a treat, may I just add). 
This is a really simple recipe, the only tricky thing I found, was timing. I think this is very much dependent on your cake tin size (ideally 24"), and your oven. I have a fan oven so I placed it in at 160 degrees, 180 if it isn't fan assisted. But be careful, as a couple of minutes too long and it will start to burn! 

Ingredients: 

For the cake:  350g self-raising flour 50g cocoa powder 1 tsp mixed spice 175ml extra-virgin olive oil 375g caster sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp salt 500ml grated courgettes (without skin) 140g walnuts (chopped) For the icing:  200g chocolate (chopped) 100ml double cream

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 160/180 degrees depending on oven and prepare 24" cake tin by lining with grease proof paper. 2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, mixed spice and salt in a large bowl.  3. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, oil vanilla, eggs and grated courgettes. Mix dry and wet ingredients until just combined. Then fold in the walnuts.  4. Pour mixture into cake tin and cook for about 50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.  5. When cooked, leave to cool.  6. To make the icing, place chopped chocolate in a bowl and bring cream to boil in a small saucepan. When boiling, pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth and completely melted.  7. Leave icing to thicken slightly and then spread over cool cake.  8. Make yourself a cuppa, sit down and enjoy your yummy cake!  Have you any favourite Autumn bakes? I'd love to hear them if you do!