This Courgette and Orange Cake is a delicious way to use up any leftover courgettes.
Ingredients
3 large eggs
300g (10½ oz) caster sugar
100ml (3½ fl oz) corn or vegetable oil
85g (3 oz) English crème fraîche
300g (10½ oz) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½tsp salt
1½tsp mixed spice
Zest of 1 orange
75g (2½ oz) chopped hazelnuts
225g (8 oz) courgettes, grated with their skin on Icing:
55g (2 oz) butter, melted
2-3 tbsp orange juice
2 tsp grated orange zest
225g (8 oz) icing sugar
Cuts into 16, or 20 smaller pieces
Method
1. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until thick, then whisk in the oil and crème fraîche.
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and mixed spice, then mix in orange rind and chopped hazelnuts. Fold the flour mixture into the eggs with the grated courgettes. Pour the mixture into a cake tin.
3. Place the tin on the grid shelf set on the floor of the baking oven. Bake for about 45-50 minutes until golden and cooked.
If your AGA does not have a baking oven, place the tin on the grid shelf set on the floor of the roasting oven and slide the cold plain shelf on the second set of runners down. Bake for about 45-50 minutes until golden and cooked. Change the cold plain shelf for a large roasting tin after 30 minutes.
Rayburn and Conventional Cooking: Bake at 180ºC, fan oven 160º, for about 45-50 minutes, until risen, golden and cooked through.
4. To make the icing; melt the butter in a bowl on the AGA. Add the remaining ingredients to the butter, beat together well and spread on the cake. The icing will thicken on cooling. Mark a pattern with a palette knife. Allow the icing to set.