We Should Cocoa #38 October 2013 - Vegetables Round-Up

At the beginning of October I asked you to bring in the harvest for me and combine vegetables with chocolate for this month's We Should Cocoa founded by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog. Thank you to Choclette for letting me loose and a big thank you to everybody who took part and came up with so many varied recipes. Without anymore gushing here's the round up of October's fine spread.

First entry in was from Suelle at Mainly Baking. She used a recipe from The Good Food Channel for her Sweet Potato and White Chocolate Cake. Suelle took their advice and added some orange zest for extra flavour plus some dark chocolate to finish it off.

The gloom of a wet Sunday in Lincolnshire inspired Dom at Belleau Kitchen to mix dark chocolate with carrots for his Chocolate Carrot Cake. This recipe makes enough for two small loaf cakes and four muffins.

The founder of the We Should Cocoa Challenge Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog went in search of vegetables at her allotment and came back with a glut of beetroots. Check out the amazing natural colour of her Beetroot and Orange Brownies.

Over in New Zealand Lucy of The Kitchen Maid got distracted by a house renovation reality TV programme and ended up baking a brick. However if you concentrate and follow her recipe you'll be rewarded with a delicious Chocolate Beetroot Banana Bread.

Back to Blighty for our next entry and a hop over the Pennines for me to Linzi at Lancashire Food. Her tried and tested recipe for Chocolate Courgette Loaf has the Green and Black's seal of approval as they published it their book Unwrapped.

Vicky at YumYumBubblegum made us something that was definitely yum yum but had no bubblegum in it. Instead her Chocolate and Ginger Cake had a secret and rather sneaky addition of courgette.

Some of the best recipes are the ones you cook from ingredients you need to use up. This was proved by Elizabeth at The Law Student's Cookbook with her Chocolate Zucchini (Courgette) Muffins. She was wanting to use beets and found she didn't have any so zucchini it was then. These are also eggless for the same reason!

This month's theme of cooking with vegetables and chocolate was like the mothership coming home for Kate of Veggie Desserts. Although she already has a number of delectable choc & veg combos on her blog she treated us to new recipe of Beetroot Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

If there's a food blogger's challenge about vegetables it is only right we should have an entry from Louisa at Eat Your Veg. Sneaking vegetables into recipes so your kids don't notice them and like them can be a daily struggle but her much tested Chocolate, Beetroot and Walnut Brownies fooled her children.

It was time for breakfast over at Rebecca's blog BakeNQuilt. Inspired by a favourite B&B of hers Rebecca's autumn staple food of pumpkin found its way into her Nutella-Stuffed Pumpkin French Toast.

It wasn't just one vegetable that went into Laura of I'd Much Rather Bake Than... cake but two plus a whole host of fruit as well. Her aptly titled Fruit and Veg Cake had enough ingredients to make up our 5-a-day which meant we could be treated to a white chocolate topping.

We went for afternoon tea with a twist with Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. Her Chocolate Beetroot Scones had a beautiful natural colouring to them and still went great with lashings of whipped cream!

I've never made blondies before but I'm definitely tempted by Natalie's version. The Hungry Hinny that she is presented us with some very seasonal Autumn Spiced Butternut Blondies.

It was time to ditch the cakes and sweet bakes with Hannah of Corner Cottage Bakery and her Vegetable Crumble. So how do you get chocolate into a savoury bake? The secret's in the roasted cocoa beans...

Sweet buns can be very tricky to make but help is at hand with Alexandra of The Lass in the Apron. Her step-by-step photographs of Sweet Potato Chocolate Buns means everybody should be brave enough to give them a go.

The witching hour is almost upon and October means Halloween and pumpkins and Caroline of Caroline Makes... came up trumps. Two different layers, bats, ghosts and a skeleton; this was the ultimate Halloween cake.

There's definitely a nip in the air now and I'm a big fan of soup to warm the body and soul. Jill of Lapin d'Or and More gave us her take on Dennis Cotter's Black Bean Soup with Chocolate Chilli and some handy foodie shopping tips.

So it is left to me as your privileged hostess of October's We Should Cocoa to finish the month off as it began. I kicked things off with a Chocolate and Potato Cake with cranberries and macadamia nuts. The addition of the leftover mashed potato gives a moistness to the cake.

If you joined in this month or fancy taking part in next month's We Should Cocoa then head over in early November to Rebecca at BakeNQuilt to find out the theme. In the meantime happy baking and making and I hope you got some inspiration from this month's tasty delights.