This summer, I decided to experiment with something a bit unconventional—for me courgette in a cake! The most daring I have been in years is putting carrot in a cake but that is no longer news! Inspired by a friend who sent me a recipe titled The Greatest Courgette Cake Ever, I was both curious and a little apprehensive about adding this vegetable to cake batter. However, I need not have worried; courgette turned out to be the perfect addition, adding a wonderful moisture and spongy texture that made the cake an absolute delight to eat.

One of the joys of making this cake was the opportunity to play with flavours and ingredients. The recipe called for lime zest and juice, which added a refreshing citrus note that paired beautifully with the courgette. It included pistachio nuts, which contributed a lovely crunch and and vibrant green brightness to the soft cake topping .

In a twist on the original recipe, I decided to swap out cream cheese for mascarpone. This substitution added played to my love of the rich, smoothness of this cheese that I have come to enjoy of the past few years . I also made a last-minute change by using rye wholemeal flour instead of plain white flour, as that’s what I had available. The result was a cake with a slightly nutty, flavour.

Overall, I was very pleased with how this cake turned out. It was not only delicious but also visually appealing—definitely cakeshop-worthy. This experiment has made me a fan of courgette in baking, and I’m excited to try more recipes!

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE COURGETTE CAKE

• 200 g soft light brown sugar 
• 2 large eggs 
• 200 ml sunflower oil 
• 200 g plain flour 
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• ½ tsp baking powder 
• zest 1 lime 
• 200 g grated courgette, approx. 1 medium courgette

FOR THE LIME CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 50 g unsalted butter 
• 100 g full fat cream cheese 
• zest 1 lime 
• juice ½ lime 
• 250 g icing sugar, (powdered sugar) 
• 1 handful pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC Fan/Gas 4/350ºF Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. 
2. Add the sugar, eggs and oil to a large mixing bowl and beat until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and beat until you can no longer see white streaks of flour. 
3. Add the lime zest and grated courgette and fold into the mixture by hand until it’s evenly mixed together. 
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. You can add foil to the top of the cake in the last 10 minutes of baking time if it’s looking too brown. 
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for ten minutes then transfer it to a wire cooling rack. 

TO MAKE THE LIME CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1. Add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) beat for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Don’t worry if there are still some lumps of butter. 
2. Swap the paddle attachment for the balloon whisk. Add ⅓ of the icing sugar. Whisk on a low speed until the icing sugar has incorporated then add another ⅓ of icing sugar and repeat. When all the icing sugar has been added, turn the speed up to high and whisk for 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add the lime zest and juice and beat until fully incorporated. 
4. When the loaf cake has completely cooled, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top of it and use an offset palette knife or similar to smooth it over the top. To decorate, sprinkle over the pistachios and a final grating of lime zest.