I got this recipe from How to be a Domestic Godess by Nigella Lawson, which I nosied through while we were in Cornwall at the beginning of last month.
Anyways since we grow courgettes we always have way more than we could possible eat, so I thought ‘what the hell’ and gave it a go.
It worked out really well, so it’s only fair to share it with you lot. 🙂
Flora’s Famous Courgette Cake
60g raisins (optional)
250g courgettes weighed before grating
2 large eggs (or 3 medium)
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
sandwich tins or bunte tins, or even muffin tins. (The cake is kinda like carrot cake so it would work in lots of forms – bars, layered cake, buns etc.)
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350F/180C
If using raisins, put them in a bowl and coer with warm water to plump them up.
Wipe courgettes with kitchen towel then grate with the coarse side of an ordinary grater. When you’ve grated them, turn them into a sieve over the sink to remove excess water.
Put eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.
Sieve in flour, bicarb and baking powder and continue to bea until well combined.
Now stir in the grated courgette and add the drained raisins.
Pour the mixture into the tins (or whatnot) and bake for about 30 minutes, or until slightly browned and firm to the touch. (i stick a tooth pick in them to check.)
Leave in their tins for 5-10 minutes then turn out and let cool on the rack until your filling is ready.
Filling:
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
juice of a lime or lemon
Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add the sieved icing sugar and lime/lemon juice to taste.
I think, because the cake is moist, it seems to keep pretty well. it should last for a week or so, assuming you don’t gobble it up. 🙂
Heh! I’m about to make that exact cake for the same reason! We’ve got three bags of the damn things in the kitchen at the moment, so it’s courgette everything right now.
I’ve also got a recipe for courgette and feta fritters, if you’d like it.
And oh, that book! I picked up a copy this weekend at my local half priced bookstore and I will be the size of a house if I’m left alone with it and kitchen.
I was going to make that cake – courgette overload in my house and I had stuffed marrow for dinner last night. Yum! I was a bit put off my the icing and am thinking about making it without it – will it be too dry? I made banana bread from domestic goddess and it was VERY nice indeed, I added chocolate in it and it was very good!
I so have that cookbook! Remind me again what a courgette is? Like a zuchinni?
Awwww, your cake is so cute!
p.s. I wish we called our zucchinis courgettes instead…it sounds so much more exotic 🙂
courgette grated in chocolate-chip muffins is AMAZING! a really good way of adding moisture to cake, without the sweetness of carrot.