A Different Way to Use Up Some Courgettes
Actually, this cake is so good, it’s a bit unfair to suggest it’s something to bake with leftovers – it deserves a special trip to the greengrocer to buy some courgettes. But if you do have surplus and you’re wondering what to do with them – give it a try. Courgettes often appear in my Oddbox delivery and I love trying different ways of cooking them.
I try to cook seasonally as much as I can – hence the Oddbox subscription. I love opening up the box to see what delights are inside and plotting how to use them.
Vegetables In Cakes
Courgettes are in season from summer into the autumn here in the UK, but as with many ingredients. you can get them all year round.
The lime goes really will with the courgettes, giving the cake a lovely citrusy flavour. You could try it with other nuts – I went for pistachios but pecans or walnuts would work well too.
I love sneaking vegetables into cakes, just to see the surprise on my guests’ faces, when they tuck in and declare that, even though they are not a fan of the vegetable in question, they actually love this cake!
Courgette, lime and pistachio cake
Ingredients
- 175 g caster sugar
- 175 g sunflower oil
- 3 medium eggs
- 100 g pistachio nuts shelled and roughly chopped
- 1-2 limes zested
- 175 g self raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 100 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 100 g icing sugar
- 200 g cream cheese at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C/ 160˚C fan/gas 4.
- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
- Coarsely grate the courgettes, then give them a good squeeze with your hands to remove as much liquid as you can. Set them aside.
- Mix the sugar, oil and eggs until well beaten.
- Stir in the grated courgettes.
- Stir in the pistachios (keeping a small handful to one side to decorate the cake), lime zest, self raising flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
- Stir again until everything is thoroughly combined.
- Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
- While your cake is baking you can make the frosting - you can do this by hand or in a mixer.
- Beat the butter until it is smooth, light and fluffy.
- Add the sifted icing sugar and beat again - start slowly, so you don’t get icing sugar all over the kitchen...
- Add the cream cheese and continue beating until you have a smooth frosting. You could add a squeeze of juice from one of your limes, for an extra limey vibe.
- Allow the cake to cool and then remove from the tin.
- Once the cake is cold, smooth the frosting over the top of the cake and sprinkle on the reserved pistachios and perhaps a little extra lime zest.
