Courgette Cake – Version 2

• I wanted to bake a courgette cake as I have made before but found I had spelt flour to use up soon and dried cranberries.
• Also I did not have any hazelnuts.
• So I made a variation of this well loved cake.
• It would be called a keks in Polish – a light fruit loaf.

Ingredients – Cake

• 150g spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
• 150g of light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 150g of sultanas
• 150g of dried cranberries
• 100g of finely cut chopped walnuts
• 1 medium size courgette coarse grated
• 3 eggs
• 125ml of sunflower oil

Ingredients – Lemon Icing

• Fine grated rind of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 150g of icing sugar

Method – Cake

• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 180°C
• I used a continental style long loaf tin, greased it  and used a single sheet of grease proof paper  to line the long sides and the base.
• Mix together the flour, salt, sugars and cinnamon, making sure that any lumps in the brown sugar are all pressed out.
• Mix together the sultanas, dried courgettes, nuts and the courgette.
• Lightly whisk the eggs and oil together.
• Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly together with a wooden spoon.
• Add the courgette mixture and mix well in.
• Place the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the top.
• Bake for 50 – 55 minutes – check after 40 minutes and cover the top with greaseproof or foil if browning too much before it is baked through.
• Leave to cool before icing.

Method – Icing

• Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add the grated lemon zest.
• Mix in the lemon juice until you have a thick icing.
• You might have to adjust the thickness with  more lemon juice (or water) or with icing sugar.
• Put the icing on the top of the cake and let it drip down the sides.