I've been blogging for over 7 years now, and have been reading a number of foodblogs from regularly since then. You know who you are, JW, KD, AK, DL, EB, MK, CD, MW and so on. I still clearly remember an old Utah (?) joke Kalyn posted in her excellent blog six years ago, so I've dugged it up for you:
Do you know why people in Utah lock their car doors in the summer when they go into church? It's because if they don't, when they come out the car will be full of zucchini.
(Kalyn Denny, Garden Update #3, 4 June 2006)
Well, the courgette/zucchini grows just as well here in Estonia, and I'm having to come up with delicious ways of using the bounty on almost a daily basis. And there are only 2 zucchini plants in my vegetable garden this year!!!
Chocolate and Zucchini seems to be the most common and popular combination for a zucchini cake - take chocolate and zucchini cake and chocolate zucchini bread (Elise @ Simply Recipes), gluten-free chocolate chip zucchini brownies (Karina @ Gluten-free Goddess), double chocolate zucchini bread (Michelle @ Brown Eyed Baker), chocolate zucchini cupcakes (Two Peas & Their Pod), for instance. The list goes on and on. But trust me, courgettes/zucchini and lemon are just as good mates. So here's another excellent cake and another lovely recipe helping you to use up that courgette/zucchini bounty.
Note that the American measuring cup is 240 ml - that will help you convert the recipe into "American", in case you haven't got kitchen scales.
Courgette cake with lemon frosting
(Suvik�rvitsakeeks sidruniv��baga)
Serves about 10
200 g courgette/zucchini (about 400 ml coarsely grated)
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
200 g all-purpose/plain flour (about 350 ml)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
2 large eggs
125 g caster sugar (about 150 ml)
100 g oil (rapeseed, olive; about 150 ml)
3 to 4 Tbsp pinenuts (or chopped nuts of your choice)
Lemon frosting:
juice of 1 lemon
icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Grease and flour (you can use flour, semolina, polenta) an 8�4-inch loaf pan or 1,5 litre/quart Bundt tin; set aside.
Grate the zucchini/courgette coarsely, add the grated lemon zest.
Mix flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and salt until combined.
Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale, thick and fluffy. Fold in the oil, then the dry ingredients. Finally add the grated courgette/zucchini, lemon zest and the pine nuts.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake in a pre-heated 180 C/350 F oven for about 45 minutes, until fully cooked (test the doneness with a wooden toothpick - it should remain clean after being pierced into the cake).
Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, then turn upside down onto a serving plate. Cool completely, then remove the cake tin.
If you wish, you can glaze the cake with a lemon frosting. To make the frosting, simply add enough icing sugar into the lemon juice to get a desired consistency. Spoon the frosting over the cake and serve.
I've used blue borage flowers to decorate the cake.
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