Courgette cake with cream
cheese lime icing and pistachios
We
love courgettes. They grow so easily and quickly in even a tiny vegetable
patch. This cake is super moist,
delicious and easy to make. And it looks beautiful. We prefer it to the
ubiquitous carrot cake. This is based on Nigella Lawson's recipe for Flora's Courgette Cake.
CAKE
•
250g courgettes (2-3, weighed before you grate
them)
•
2 large eggs (or 3 medium)
•
125ml sunflower oil
•
150g golden caster sugar (or caster sugar will do)
•
225g self-raising flour
•
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
•
1/2 tsp baking powder
Grease
and line 2 x 20cm round tins. Preheat oven to 180C (160 Fan).
Rinse
whole courgettes, and then grate (skin on) with the coarse side of a grater.
Put the courgettes in a sieve and leave over a bowl to drain off the excess
liquid.
Place
eggs, oil, and sugar in bowl and beat until creamy. Fold in sifted flour,
bicarb, and baking powder. Stir in courgette.
Spoon
mixture into tins and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden on top and firm
to touch. Remove from oven, leave in pans for 5 mins, then turn out and leave
to cool completely before assembling.
ICING
•
300g full fat cream cheese
•
200g icing sugar, sifted
•
juice ½ to 1 lime, depending on how juicy is it.
•
2-3 tbsp chopped pistachios (not salted)
Put
cream cheese in a bowl and gradually add sieved icing sugar. Add lime juice. You
may need to add a little more icing sugar and place the icing in fridge to firm
up a little to thicken it to spreading consistency. This is because different cream cheeses are firmer or softer than
others. Do not overbeat the cream cheese or it will liquify (go runny) and no amount of
sugar will retrieve it.
To
assemble the cake, place bottom layer on a serving plate and spread thickly with half
the cream cheese icing. Place 2nd cake on top carefully. Spread cream cheese
over the top, and sprinkle with pistachios.
Put the kettle on and get ready to enjoy!
