Well it’s official, I’ve failed again in the Veg Garden, and I started this year so well! I’ll tell you all the disasters another time, but in amongst the blighted potatoes and skeletal sprouting broccoli the Courgettes and Runner Beans are magnificent!
The only problem with courgettes is that 50% of the household (well, 75% if you count Henry and Higgins) don’t actually like them! But they are sooo easy to grow, take up loads of space so it makes the garden look very productive, and have such pretty flowers…
but then over night, this happens…
…and there’s a limit to how many you can slip into Shepherds Pie, Curry or Lasagne before protests are made. I went off to consult Delia, Jamie, Nigella and Nigel et al for suggestions and this time the wonderful Nigella inspired me to come up with my own take on a Courgette Cake. The acid test was persuading my horrified cousin to try it and he actually came back for ‘seconds’. (His small son was angling for ‘thirds’!)
So in the interest of helping anyone else with a ‘courgette mountain’ to contend with I’m passing on this version based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe in her book ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess’.
250g courgettes
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar
225 SR Flour
½ tspn bicarbonate of soda
½ tspn baking powder
Juice of 1 ½ lemons
100g Caster sugar
24cm square tin, greased and lined
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. (Fan oven 170°C)
Grate the wiped, but not peeled, courgettes with a coarse grater then turn into a strainer over the sink to drain off any excess liquid.
Put the eggs, sugar and oil into a bowl and beat until creamy. Then sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat slowly to mix completely. Stir in the grated courgette.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is slightly brown and firm to the touch and an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
While the cake is cooking put the lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved.
As soon as the cake is out of the oven, prick all over the top with a fine skewer, (I use the cake tester as it makes really fine holes) and spoon the hot lemon syrup evenly over the top of the cake. Leave in the tin until absolutely cold before removing it or it will collapse into crumbs and you will be forced to eat it warm with icecream…
This is a moist and delicious cake prettily flecked with green which will keep people guessing if you are coy about the secret ingredient!
Follow
That sounds delicious! I might need to give this one a go as I love Courgettes and anything lemon.
Claire
Oh this looks like a great idea to get rid of the courgette mountain! Another idea from Anna Del Conte is stuffed courgette a mixture of mint, parsley, garlic some bread crumbs and a bit of olive oil cook in the oven! Haven’t tried it but it sounds good!
Debbie
This sounds lovely, I’ll make this for me but need to disguise the courgettes more thoroughly for my OH!
Sounds good… I’ve got a blog post lined up soon with the numerous recipes I’ve been using for dealing with my courgette glut!
That sounds delicious, thank you for sharing. I love the little flecks of green through it. 🙂
Vivienne x
Sounds delicious! My aunt makes a chocolate zucchini cake which is virtually famous in my family. It is really moist and the chocolate colour masks the flecks of green for those who might not try it otherwise.
xXx Helen
Thanks for the recipe. We don’t have a courgette mountain yet, but if we do I will be trying out this yummy sounding cake.
I made a courgette, cinnamon and walnut cake from the hummingbird bakery book recently…it was beautifully moist and tasted delicious, I let my son eat two slices before I told him 😉
Over in this neck of the woods we call it zucchini. And ours are so bad this year. Not a single one growing. The only recipe we ever use them in is zucchini bread. very yummy!
It looks delicious Penny, I’m not surprised they were coming back for more!
I make a courgette and chocolate cake which is pretty good. But my brother in law has the best idea … courgette wine. It’s delicious!
Oh that sounds yummy! I love courgettes but my men unfortunately not. But… they like cakes ;-). Thanks for the recipe!! I have 2 further ideas for you: 1) Have you already tried to make a salad of courgettes? I like it. Just use small young ones (they taste better than the bigger ones), rasp them and mix with dressing. Best directly after making ;-). 2) And one of my favourite courgettes recipes is scalloped courgettes. Cut them in halves lengthwise, hollow out and fill with spiced mince meat. Rasped cheese on top and tomato sauce around in the casserole, and scallop.
The recipe sounds great! Now, I must find US conversions for your measurements. Can’t wait to try it.
“Courgette” sounds so much more elegant than “zucchini” – but here in the States we have no problems with zucchini cake! Yours looks delicious and is making my tummy rumble. 🙂
I tried making courgette cake once – my Teen quickly spotted the green flecks in it! No one can be expected to eat cake with green flecks, apparently. I now peel courgettes before adding.
Hi Penny, quite agree about growing courgettes, very satisfying and productive. Your cake recipe sounds delicious. Here’s one I do which makes a good size cake and muffins. I ice it with a frosting made with equal quantities of butter and low fat cream cheese with as much icing sugar as needed to make a thick frosting. Flavoured with a squeeze of orange juce and grated zest.
Chocolate Courgette Cake
Ingredients:??1 cup butter or margarine ?2 1/2 cups sugar ?3 cups plain flour ?1/2 cup baking cocoa ?2 tsp. baking powder ?1 tsp. baking soda ?3/4 tsp. salt ?4 eggs ?2 tsp. vanilla ?1 cup milk ?3 cups courgette, shredded
Directions:??Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Combine all dry ingredients. Pour part of dry stuff in and mix. Pour in some milk. Mix. Continue until all dry stuff and milk are mixed in. Add vanilla. Last thing–add the courgette. Mix. ??Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes if using a long flat cake pan about 9 x 13 inches I think. It’s a sheet type cake. ??You can serve this cake plain, but it’s really good with a sweet topping. ??Sprinkle top with powdered sugar or frost with your favorite icing.
sorry about all the question marks. its the mac.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I made it and it was a big success. I changed the recipe slightly to include grated lemon rind in the cake mixture and I substituted the sugar for half and half sugar and stevia to reduce the sugar content.
For anyone who likes baking with vegetables I highly recommend Harry Eastwood’s Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache. My absolute favourite cake recipe book.