The best courgette recipe: Flora’s courgette cake

Sarah made 15 of these cakes over the course of the Italian summer as we had a glut of courgettes in the garden.  My mum liked the cake so much she copied the recipe from us and made it for some of her friends who are also now trying it.  It originates from Nigella Lawson: “How to be a Domestic Goddess” – recipe referred to us by Eric Culley (Nigella gives credit to Flora Woods for devising this exceptional cake) 

After so much tasting and trying to get the filling to set, we often ended up with a runny messy cake (see photos) but the taste ....mmmmm! We adore this recipe.  We prefer it without the icing and making the lime filling ourselves; my mum prefers it with icing and uses M&S lemon curd sharpened with fresh lime juice for filling. 

It is a versatile excellent cake with a cup of tea or coffee after a long cycle ride. I served it to my parents for dessert and we have also had it for breakfast with an expresso.

Foodstuff you will need: 

Cake

60g raisins

250g of courgette (weighed before grating)

2 large eggs

125ml veg oil

150g caster sugar

225g self raising flour

½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

Lime filling

75g unsalted butter

3 large eggs

75g caster sugar

125ml lime juice (approx 4 limes)

zest of 1 lime

Icing

200g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

juice of 1 lime (more to taste)

2-3 tablespoons of pistachio nuts

Equipment:

2x21cm sandwich tins (greased and lined with baking paper)

2 large mixing bowls

Wooden spoon (or electric beater)

Spatulla

1x350ml jar

Grater

Rack for hot tins

Sieve x 2

Kitchen towel

Oven

How to throw it together

Cake

Preheat oven to 180C

Put raisins in a bowl and cover them with water to plump them up

Wipe courgettes with a kitchen towel.

Grate the outer part of the courgette(s) using the course side of the grater (not the fine side otherwise will turn to mush) You can throw away the softer centres.

Place grated courgette in sieve over the sink to drain any excess liquid.

Put eggs, oil, sugarin a bowl and beat them until creamy

Sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and continue to beat until combined.

Drain the raisins. Stir in the grated courgette and raisins

Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 30 minutes until slightly brown and firm to touch

Leave in their tins on a rack for 5-10 minutes , then turn out and let cool on the rack until the filing and icing are ready.

Lime filling

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, add all the other ingredients and whisk to a custard over a gentle heat. Care: Do not put in more lime juice than stated in the recipe! The filling will not set.

Let it cool in the fridge before filling the cake with it.

Cream Cheese Icing

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, add the sieved icing sugar, beating well to combine then stir in the lime juice to taste.

 

Constructing the cake

Put one half of the sponge cake on a plate and spread on the lime filling.

Put on the top of the cake and spread on the icing (as thick as possible)

Place the pistachios on top.

You can keep this in the fridge to firm up the icing/filling but we preferred the cake kept in a cool place in an airtight container.