In homage to the bizarre yet beautiful creations that we are looking forward to seeing on tonight’s Great British Bake Off, we thought we would try out an usual creation of our own – and we’re so glad we did!

Whether you’re after a tasty talking point when entertaining or just want to get more veg into the children’s diets, this deliciously daring zesty courgette cake is for you.

Serves: 8

Time: One hour

Ingredients

  • 200g grated courgette
  • 125ml vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1/2tsp salt
  • 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/4tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon
  • Zest of one lemon
  • Butter for greasing

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c and grease a 2Ib loaf tin with butter.

Beat together grated courgette, oil, egg and sugar in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together. Then stir in the lemon zest and cinnamon.

Fold the flour mixture into the courgette mixture and pour the thick batter into the greased loaf tin.

Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden and a skewer comes our clean. Remove from the heat and cool for around 10 minutes, before removing the cake from the tray to cool completely.

Serve and enjoy!

 

And for that little bit extra…

Try adding a drizzle of crunchy lemon icing!
Mix the juice of one large lemon with 50g of granulated sugar before drizzling over the warm loaf.

Or for those who believe vegetables don’t belong in cakes…

take a look at this fresh approach to grocery storage with these vegetable baskets.