Courgette & Lime Cake

Sometimes you come across a cake in a shop or Tea Room that you haven’t had before but you know that you’ve just got to make it yourself at home to see if you can reproduce it.  Well this is one of those cakes!

Sinead and I treated ourselves to Afternoon Tea when we were on holiday in Ludlow last week and they served a Zucchini & Lime cake as part of it.  I loved it so much, I baked one yesterday and thought you might like to try it yourself too 🙂

Plus, for anyone who has their own vegetable garden or allotment, you will no doubt be overrun with courgettes at the moment and so this is a recipe which will use up some of the glut!!

Cake Ingredients:
2 Medium Courgettes – coarsely grated including skin
2 Large Eggs
125ml Vegetable Oil
150g Caster Sugar
225g Self-Raising Flour
½ Teasp Bicarbonate of Soda (Bread Soda)
½ Teasp Baking Powder

Lime Curd Ingredients:
120g Golden Caster Sugar
30g Unsalted Butter, cut into cubes
2 Large Eggs
Juice from 2 Limes
Zest from 1 Lime

Cream Cheese Frosting:
200g Full-Fat Cream Cheese
100g Icing Sugar
Juice from 1 Lime
Roughly chopped pistachios to decorate (not the salted ones)

Method:

1. Firstly make your lime curd by placing all of the ingredients except the zest in a saucepan and whisk thoroughly.  Place on the heat and keep stirring for 10 – 15 minutes until the mix thickens.  Strain through a sieve to remove any white flecks from the egg which might remain and then add in the zest.  Mix thoroughly and then pour into a bowl and leave to cool completely.
2. Preheat your oven to 180ºC, 160ºC Fan, 350ºF or Gas Mark 4
3. Grease and base line 2 x 8 inch Sandwich Tins – I use baking spray for mine
4. Combine eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl.  Sieve in flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix well.  Add in grated courgettes and mix in.
5. Divide equally between the 2 sandwich tins and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden and well risen.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before taking them out of the cake tins to cool on a wire rack.
7. While the cakes are cooling make your frosting – place cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth – I use my Kitchenaid for this as its best to remove any lumps but you can do it by hand.  It might look a bit runny at first but will thicken up after a few minutes.  Place in the fridge before using which will cause the icing to set slightly but it will still be soft enough to spread
8. Place one of the sponges on a serving plate.  Spread all of the curd over it and then top with the other sponge.  Finally spread over the frosting and sprinke over the chopped pistachios

Serve & Enjoy