Carrot and Courgette Cake

Cake Topped with creamy icing and Toasted coconut.

Delicious Carrot and Courgette Cake. Topped with an orange, cheese and goat curd icing. Sprinkled with toasted coconut.

This Carrot and Courgette recipe makes a lovely cake. It is so easy that baking experience is not needed- just throw the ingredients together, bake and eat!
I prefer it fresh and warm from the oven while my children adore it spread thickly with an orangey cream cheese icing.
It stays fresh for days and freezes beautifully. I love to freeze it in slices so a piece can easily be removed when an afternoon pick-me-up is needed.
As an added bonus it can be made dairy free and gluten free by substituting flour, baking powder, butter and cheese with ‘free from’ alternatives.
The addition of courgette helps to provide vegetable variety. It blends beautifully with the carrot and spices and adds a lovely fleck of green to the crumb.
Bake in 2 8″ tins and sandwich together with icing, in a tray (great for lunches), or in muffin tins to create little cupcakes.

Ingredients

200ml Rapeseed Oil
200g Soft Brown Sugar
2 Free Range Eggs
200g Plain Flour (or plain gluten free flour)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Mixed Spice
Pinch Ground Ginger
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
150g Carrot
50g  Courgette

Method

1. Grate the Carrot and Courgette and leave to one side.
2. Whisk together oil, sugar and eggs.
3. Measure all dry ingredients together them whisk into the first bowl.
4. Mix in carrots and courgette.
5. Bake in the oven at 160ºC for about 20-30 mins (depends on your choice of cake tin).
6. Remove from the oven when it is bouncy and firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Icing

Zest and juice of an orange
80g Cream Cheese
20g Goat’s Curd
200-300g Icing Sugar

Method

1. Beat cheese, curd and orange together until well mixed.
2. Add in icing sugar in stages and mix until you are happy with the consistency – I prefer it to be a thick paste but others like it a little more runny. (Thicker is best if sandwiching two cakes together.)
If dairy free, use a dairy free cheese or butter.
Recipe supplied by Melanie Williams (Norfolk Cake Company) who make lovely homemade lunches for businesses in Norwich.