Looking for a way of using up the glut of courgettes that are still being produced down the garden, I thought I’d try baking a courgette cake.
Dubious at first, but willing to give it a try (remember the days when carrot cake was ‘just weird’), I whipped up a courgette and lemon loaf yesterday. I think it was a success as it had a life span of about two hours. The whole lot was snaffled up by the family… gone!
All agreed the cake was delicious, moist and obviously very moreish…
What do you think?
Lemon courgette loaf
Serves 12, Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 45 minutes, Suitable for home freezing
You will need:
200g (7 oz) peeled, grated courgette
150g (5 oz) caster sugar
1 egg
125ml (4 fl oz) sunflower oil
200g (7 oz) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Grated rind and juice from half a lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees/gas mark 3.
Grease and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Add grated courgette, sugar, egg and oil to a bowl and beat together.
In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
Add this to the courgette mixture, and beat together until just mixed.
Stir in the lemon juice and rind until well combined
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes. A skewer or knife inserted into the loaf at the end of cooking should come out clean.
Allow to cool slightly in the tin before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.
Some variations I may try in the future are to add some poppy seeds to the mixture. I also think that a sprinkling of brown sugar on the top of the cake before cooking might be nice.
Courgette and lemon loaf