lime & courgette cake

little backstory for this cake as some of you might not think to put courgette (or zucchini) in a cake. I thought the same before I tried my friend Jack's lime and courgette cake years ago in his coffee shop (that no longer exists in Kent, if you’re reading this Jack, big up yourself). But this cake is perfect for two reasons; number one, it is moist, still sweet and moreish bite after bite. secondly; it is simple, genuinely simple, if you’re new to vegan baking. I don’t bake much here so when I do I need to make sure that even the least technical cooks here can do this. et voila. here’s the best cake I can make (so far).

MAKES CAKE FOR LOTS OF HAPPY PEOPLE (about 12 slices)

20 min prep + 1hr 10 min cooking = 1hr 30 minutes

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INGREDIENTS:

for the cake:

• 2 medium-sized grated courgettes (or zucchini)

• 2 limes, the zest and juice please

• 60g blended pistachios

• 120g light brown sugar

• 150g caster sugar

• 300ml plant based milk (oat or soy only)

• 80g extra virgin olive oil

• 300g spelt flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp bicarb

• 1 flax or chia egg* (5 tbsp flax seed or chia seeds with 10 tbsp water, leave to sit for 10 mins before mixing in)

  fo’ drizzle:

• 1 lime, juice only

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

  for the icing:

• 2 tubs of vegan cream cheese

• 1 lime, the zest and juice please

• 200g (or more) icing sugar

• 15g blended pistachios

• pinch of sea salt

  METHOD:

1. Go preheat the oven to 180°C normal setting (not fan).

2. We’ll deal with the courgette first. Grate that on the smaller hole setting (not the tiny one, next one up) and add those strands onto a clean cloth. Wrap up and squeeze all the water out of it into the sink or a large bowl, then discard the water.

3. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugars, pistachios, the zest of the limes, the baking powder and bicarb, and mix that up well. Then add in all the liquidy bits including the milk, juice of limes, chia or flax ‘egg’ and the grated courgette. Mix that up well until you have a thick cake-like batter. Add the olive oil in and mix once again and you should be ready to bake.

4. In a 30cm cake tin, lined with baking paper, add the batter and bake it for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Also, please poke it with a skewer to make sure all the batter is cooked through before taking it out the oven.

5. Whilst that’s baking, let’s make the icing and drizzle. Fo’ drizzle, add the lime juice and maple syrup in a jug and set aside. For the icing, mix everything in a large mixing bowl, and you might need to add a bit more icing sugar to achieve a firm icing because vegan cream cheese is temperamental. Put that icing in the fridge.

6. When the cake is out the oven, poke more holes in it and pour the drizzle over the top of the cake, that’ll allow it to seep into the middle of the cake. Remove it from the tin and let it cool down.

7. Now take the icing out the fridge and dollop it on the top of your cake and finish that with crumbled pistachios, lime zest and a pinch of salt. Happy birthday.