Grate the zucchini/courgette. If there is too much moisture in the zucchini, squeeze some of the juice out. See notes for further details.
Beat eggs with a hand mixer for 3 minutes in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Dissolve the instant coffee in the boiling water and allow to cool slightly.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well combined, ensuring there are no lumps and the baking powder and soda are well distributed.
Add the EVOO-oil, vanilla extract, dissolved coffee and zucchini to the eggs and beat with the hand mixer until combined.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until really well combined.
Pour into a greased and lined 8” or 9” baking pan and smooth out the top ensuring there aren’t any air bubbles.
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the cake is cooked in the centre.
Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes then leave to cool on a cooling rack. Top the cake with ganache when it has completely cooled down.
To Make the Ganache
Heat up the cream just to below the boil (don't boil or you will have lumps in your gananche) and remove from heat (or microwave) and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has blended with the cream, and allow to cool before using.
Drizzle the ganache on before it thickens for a drizzle finish or allow ganache to cool in the fridge to a slightly thicker consistency before icing the cake. This is enough ganache for a thin coating on top of the cake.
Note that you can make a stiffer ganache by increasing the amount of chocolate you add, ie., make it 1 :1 cream to chocolate (2.5 oz/75 gms of each) for a stiffer ganache or make it 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream (3.5 oz/100 gms chocolate to 1.8 oz/50gms cream) for a much stiffer and pipeable ganache. You can also make it thinner and more like a pourable chocolate sauce by using 1 part cream to .5 amount chocolate (ie, 3.5 oz/100 gms cream to 1.8 oz/50 gms chocolate.)
To Serve
This cake tastes lovely served as it is fresh from the oven, or when iced or frosted.
Try serving it simply with a dollop of cream, marscapone or some icecream.
For a delicious hot dessert, simply zap in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up and serve with whipped cream. If you haven't ganached it, pour some of the pourable chocolate sauce over the top to serve.
Notes
If young firm zucchini are used in this recipe and don't have much moisture, there is no need to squeeze the liquid out of them. If there is a lot of moisture present after you have grated yours, give it a squeeze over a colander or in a muslin bag to remove the excess liquid before adding to the recipe. If using erythritol or xylitol as the sweetener, add 3/4 cup.Add 1/2 cup of dark choc chips for variation. You can make your own by cutting up a dark chocolate bar.For a richer chocolate taste, increase the cocoa to 1 cup or 100 grams/3.5 oz. Dutch processed cocoa will you give richer chocolate flavors and is the queen of cocoa powder.