Last updated at 20:00, Thursday, 12 July 2012

A keen gardener friend of ours had a courgette problem, the problem being too many courgettes.

When you have a glut of anything, then clever recipes to use said ingredient are very useful.

Courgettes can be boring if not cleverly used, but what about trying them in a cake for a change?

Our courgette cake is rather like a moist carrot cake. It is great for kids if they are not too keen on their veg as they’ll never spot the hidden courgette within.

The mascarpone icing is a luxurious upgrade from the usual cream cheese.

Serves six to eight.

Butter for greasing

350g courgettes

175g walnuts

4 eggs

250ml vegetable oil

Zest of ½ orange

175g light muscovado sugar

175g caster sugar

100g wholemeal flour

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

For the icing

Remaining zest of ½ orange plus juice of orange

4 tblsp icing sugar

250g mascarpone cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Grease two 20cm sandwich baking tins and line the bases of the tins with baking parchment.

Cut the ends off the courgettes and coarsely grate them into a clean tea towel. Use the tea towel to squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the courgettes. Discard the liquid and place the courgette in a large bowl.

Chop the walnuts well and then add to the courgette.

Blend the eggs, oil and orange rind together (you can do this with a whisk manually in a bowl or in a food processor). Add the egg mixture to the courgette and walnuts.

Stir in the two sugars. Sift the flours into the bowl (tipping in any bran that is retained in the sieve). Add the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Fold everything together until it is thoroughly combined.

Divide the mixture between the two baking tins. Bake in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes until well risen and springy to the touch.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for five minutes and then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing: Combine the mascarpone with the icing sugar and orange rind. Add some juice to the mascarpone for flavour but not too much so that it will make your icing runny.

Use half of the mascarpone to sandwich the cake together as a filling and the rest spread on top of the cake.

First published at 19:25, Thursday, 12 July 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk