Cakes

Courgette & Lemon Cake

Kirsten

This cake, you guys. This. Cake.

Courgette & Lemon Cake {gluten free & dairy free} 3 | The Pink Rose Bakery

I don’t even know where to begin with describing it. Honestly.

It turned out 1000 times better than I had ever imagined.

Courgette & Lemon Cake {gluten free & dairy free} 6 | The Pink Rose Bakery

It’s lemony.

And the courgette not only adds a delicate green colour but also an incredible amount of moisture.

Which means that this cake is soooooooo soft. As soft as a pillow. As soft as a cloud. As soft as an angel’s wings.

It’s soft. In fact it is beyond soft.

I’ll stop now with the softness.

Courgette & Lemon Cake {gluten free & dairy free} 5 | The Pink Rose Bakery

But it really is soft. I can’t get over it, can you tell?

Also, as well as being gluten-free – and I have made it even easier to make by using a gluten-free blended flour – it is also dairy free. Win, win.

Courgette & Lemon Cake {gluten free & dairy free} 4 | The Pink Rose Bakery

Another advantage of all the moisture is that it keeps incredibly well. The icing will dissolve and disappear into the cake over time, but that isn’t a major problem. In fact it probably helps to enhance the lemon flavour, which also gets a little stronger over the following 24 hours after it has been baked.

If it even lasts that long, because one slice will not be enough. You will have to restrain yourselves. Seriously.

Courgette & Lemon Cake {gluten free & dairy free} 1 | The Pink Rose Bakery

Because did I mention that it is really soft???

Courgette & Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

  • 250g courgette, weighed before grating
  • 2 large eggs
  • 125ml vegetable oil
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 225g gluten-free self-raising flour ( I used Doves Farm)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 50g royal icing sugar
  • 3 tsp lemon juice
  • edible flowers to decorate, optional (I used a pansy and rosemary flowers)

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius / 160 fan / 350 Fahrenheit. Grease a bundt tin well with oil (if you don’t have a bundt tin then you can use a deep 20cm diameter round cake tin).
  2. Remove the stalky end from the courgette and grate using the coarse side of a box grater. Don’t use anything too fine or you will reduce the courgette to mush. Place the grated courgette in a sieve over the sink and leave to drain while you mix together the batter.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil and sugar until pale and slightly fluffy.
  4. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix to combine.
  5. Add the grated courgette and mix to distribute.
  6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  7. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. Once the cake is cold, mix together the royal icing sugar and the lemon juice to make the icing. Transfer into a piping bag, fitted with a small round nozzle and drizzle the icing over the cake. If you don’t have an icing bag, use a small teaspoon to help you drizzle it. Add the edible flowers, if using.
  9. Will keep very happily in a cake tin or air-tight container in a cool place (not the fridge) for 5 days.

© The Pink Rose Bakery 2015

Adapted from Flora’s Famous Courgette Cake found in Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess.

19 thoughts on “Courgette & Lemon Cake”

  1. Pingback: Spiced Courgette Bread | The Pink Rose Bakery

  4. What a beautiful bundt! I love courgette cakes (don’t love the grating) and this looks just perfect. Nothing better for the soul than a slice of homemade cake and a cup of tea or coffee. Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare

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  6. Courgette is one of those great ‘mystery’ ingredients that do just make things better, so your success here makes sense, but hanging out so openly in a delicate lemon cake is truly marvellous. I’m definitely going to try this; our household is entirely gluten free and I only ever make my flour blends from scratch, so I’ll have to see how it turns out for me. Thanks for sharing!!

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    1. I’ve seen lots of recipes using courgette but apart from eating some in a chocolate cake once, I haven’t used it. It is definitely something I will be using more often in baking! Let me know how you get on with your flour blend. I usually mix and match my own flours but on this occasion I was being lazy!!

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