Thursday 20 August 2015

Courgettes Not Carrots



It's the second week of our Bake Off challenge and we've made
 Nigella's courgette cake.

Baking with courgettes is something new to me. Carrots? Yes.
But courgettes? No. Not even when we have to help use up the
glut from my father in law's allotment nearly every summer and
we're always looking for new ways to cook with them.

 But I know that cakes with courgettes can be lovely and moist;
I thought we should give it a go. We had most of the ingredients
already, so why not try it? It is something new and a bit different
 and this, after all, is what our little baking challenge is all about.


So we started off by grating the courgettes and then mixing the other
cake ingredients together before baking for half an hour.


It is very much like carrot cake: it has vegetable oil, sultanas and
the same cream cheese frosting, although it has lemon curd with
some lime juice for the filling.


It is also similar to carrot cake in taste and texture- very moist
and lovely, but it is more lemony because of the filling.



I really like this cake and Markie is a big fan too. She's says she only likes carrots but she doesn't seem to mind that this has courgettes,
 even when she can see little green flecks of this totally different
vegetable all over the cake. Lulu, on the other hand, hates it. Her
reaction when I was folding in the grated courgettes was less than enthusiastic. But I bet she won't be able to resist a chocolate version
 of this cake. We'll try that one out next time we have some of
 Grandad's homegrown courgettes. We're expecting more gifts 
from his allotment soon.


Hope you enjoyed the Bake Off last night. Those bread sculptures
were amazing! Enjoy the rest of your week!


8 comments:

  1. Yes, the bread sculptures were great. I peel the courgette for cakes, that way even the most profound courgette hater is fooled :-) Your cake looks very nice. x

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  2. Hi Marion, I'm so glad you tried this. It's very common here to make a sweet tea bread with zucchini and people often add nuts or a cream-cheese icing. I never bother peeling them, I like the mix of green tones you get from unpeeled. Your cake turned out very nicely. You're doing great with your challenge!

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  3. Yum! I used to have the most wonderful chocolate zucchini cake recipe. (Used to, argh.) I made it for a church picnic once and a friend was loving it, devouring it, stopped and said, "Why is there green stuff in my cake? She was thrilled when she realized why, she was always up for getting veggies into baked goods, haha. I really want to try your recipe, I adore lemon curd.

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  4. Umm, never tried cakes with courgettes but it does look delicious and as you say, I can imagine it is very moist. I wonder what your husband thought?
    Caz xx

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  5. I thought the bread sculptures were amazing!! Great idea to bake along each week too. Can't wait to see what you bake next week xx

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  6. Wow i have never heard of courgettes in a cake. Genius! Must try it :)

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  7. I have a courgette loaf recipe which I make sometimes. It is more of a tea bread, that you would slice and have with butter. It is delicious, I really must make it again soon! Yes I agree the bread sculptures were amazing in the Bake Off, I particularly liked the flower post and flowers x

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  8. I am enjoying the bake off so much and I agree that the bread sculptures this week were amazing! I love the sound of this cake and I'm sure I actually have this recipe.
    Marianne x

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