COURGETTE & LIME CAKE

We love that we can get some of our five-a-day in cake form! Courgettes make a perfect moist cake and the lime really lifts the flavour to another level. Try this and we’re sure you’ll love it too. If you don’t fancy the cream cheese icing, you can simply dust the cake with icing sugar and serve it with some very slightly sweetened crème fraîche.

MAKES 12 SLICES ★

300g courgettes, coarsely grated

125g plain flour (preferably wholemeal) 125g ground almonds 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda pinch of salt

100g caster sugar 2 eggs

75g olive oil

75g plain yogurt zest and juice of 2 limes

Topping (optional)

★ 200g cream cheese

★ 3 tbsp icing sugar

★ zest of 1 lime, plus extra to garnish

juice of ½ a lime 1 Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.

2 Sprinkle the courgettes into a clean tea towel and twist into a bundle. Squeeze well to get rid of the excess liquid in the courgettes.

3 Put the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and add a generous pinch of salt.

4 Whisk together the sugar, eggs and olive oil until well combined. Add the yogurt then the lime zest and juice – the mixture may curdle slightly, but don’t worry, it won’t affect the result. Add the squeezed courgettes, then fold in the dry ingredients.

5 Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and bake the cake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a cooling rack.

6 For the optional topping, put the cream cheese in a bowl and beat to break it up. Beat in the sugar, lime zest and juice. Using a palette knife, swirl the mixture over the cake, then put it in the fridge to firm up. Sprinkle with extra lime zest before serving.