We are getting some fantastic produce from the allotment right now. It’s amazing to have a plate full of food you’ve grown yourself. But, we’re getting LOTS of courgettes. Let’s be honest; there are only so many courgettes you can eat.
I’ve cooked them as many different ways as I can think of. I’ve given them away. I’ve frozen loads too. This week I decided I couldn’t eat another courgette until I remembered that you can bake with them. Courgette disguised as cake seemed like a good idea. It’s hard to say no to cake. So, here we go! I found this great recipe for Courgette cake with Lemon drizzle on Veggie Desserts.
Before you get started here are some tips I found helpful:
- Don’t skip the step to remove some moisture from the grated courgette. Otherwise the cake will be soggy!
- This loaf cake has reduced sugar. You can go as heavy or as easy on the sugary lemon drizzle as you like.
- You can substitute the courgette for marrow (older courgette). I did this and it works!
- This recipe is for a 900g / 2lb loaf pan – which is the typical size pan for bread making (approx 23cm x 13cm x 7cm (9 inches x 5.5 inches x 3 inches).
- No need to peel the raw courgette – a lot of goodness is in the skin.
- This is a dairy free courgette cake.
Make it gluten-free by using gluten free flour and baking powder.
- Make it vegan: swap eggs for flax eggs (2 tbsp of ground flax stirred into 6 tbsp of water and allow to stand for 5 minutes to become gelatinous).
Ingredients
- oil – for greasing
- 350 g (3 cups) courgette (zucchini) raw, approximately 1-2 medium
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
- 2 free-range eggs
- 100 g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 300 g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ tsp sea salt
For the lemon glaze:
Method:
- Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F. Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin and line with baking paper.
- Coarsely grate the unpeeled raw courgettes (with a box grater or food processor). Lightly squeeze the gratings in a clean tea towel, or with kitchen paper, to remove a little of the moisture.
- In a large bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, sugar, zest and juice together until smooth, then stir in the courgette. Sift in the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt and gently combine.
- Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 75 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin completely.
For the lemon drizzle:
- Mix the lemon juice and icing sugar together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled cake and sprinkle with the lemon zest.
Green-Fingered Mum 