Courgette & orange cake with cream cheese frosting

Forget the carrot cake, this light, moist courgette cake is packed with flavour and it goes perfectly with a cup of tea

  • Prep:10 mins
    Cook:50 mins
  • Serves 12 slices
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 391
  • fat 20g
  • saturates 7g
  • carbs 49g
  • sugars 31g
  • fibre 2g
  • protein 5g
  • salt 0.5g

Ingredients

  • 350g courgettes (no need to peel them)
  • 200g soft brown sugar
  • 125ml sunflower oil
  • 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • grated zest 1 orange
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g sultanas
  • 300g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 200g full-fat cream cheese
  • 100g icing sugar, sifted

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Lightly oil and line a 1kg loaf tin with a strip of baking parchment. Finely grate the courgettes, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands (too much will make the cake soggy).

  2. Stir the courgettes with the sugar, sunflower oil, eggs, orange zest, vanilla and sultanas, then fold in the flour and baking powder until they disappear, but don’t overmix.

  3. Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 mins until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

  4. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar (don’t overbeat as this can make the mixture too soft), then chill. Spread over the cooled cake, scatter with the zest and chill until ready to serve. Will keep for a week in the fridge.

Suggested recipes from this collection...