A few years ago, after admiring a tasty, moist cake made by a friend, I became the proud owner of a courgette cake recipe. I promptly filed it and never thought about it again.
This summer, at the end of an arduous(!) coastal hike, we stopped to buy refreshments from a small van in the harbour car park at Port Quinn. They were selling an eclectic variety of drinks and hot snacks, together with a selection of gluten-free cakes. One of these was a stunning looking ‘Courgette, Lemon and Poppy Seed’ cake. So I had some and it was heavenly. I love the rougher, heavier texture of gluten-free that alternatives like polenta and ground almond etc. give. The cake looked more complicated than I would typically make, but it seemed like a good thing to remember for entertaining.
Courgettes are wonderful. I grow a number of varieties every year and I love cooking them in just about any style you can think of, but now that I find myself stacking them high on the worktop (picked before they get too big for my liking), it occurred to me that I could give a courgette cake recipe a go.
I found a Riverford Organics recipe for precisely the Courgette, Lemon and Poppy Seed cake I enjoyed at Port Quinn, I think. I adapted it slightly, since I didn’t think the poppy seeds added that much (and I didn’t have any). Plus, since it already includes almonds giving it the texture I like, so I used ordinary self-raising flour here, not gluten-free. Otherwise, this cake was their recipe:

Courgette and Lemon Cake
The almond and lemon flavours are wonderful together and the courgette makes the whole thing deliciously moist*. It got thumbs up all round with the family, so I will be making it again!
*One tip is to squeeze any excess water out of the grated courgette before adding it to the mixture to avoid the cake being too moist.
There are many alternative courgette cake recipes. I like the almonds in this, but if you aren’t considering the gluten-free aspect, then both Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater have cool looking variations for courgette cakes that you could take a look at.
Here’s the Riverford recipe in case the link disappears:
Ingredients for the cake:
2 tbsp poppy seeds
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
75ml whole milk
250g unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing the tin
250g light brown soft sugar
4 eggs, yolks & whites separated
½ tsp almond extract
200g gluten-free self-raising flour
75g ground almonds
250g grated weight of courgettes
Ingredients for the topping:
300g icing sugar
1½ tsp finely grated lemon zest
30g unsalted butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp poppy seeds
- Preheat your oven to 180˚C.
- Lightly grease a 23cm springform cake tin and line with baking parchment.
- Warm the milk, poppy seeds and lemon zest in a small pan for a couple of mins, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale, light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
- Stir in the almond extract, flour and ground almonds.
- Fold in the courgettes and cooled milk. Whisk the egg whites in a separate clean bowl to stiff peaks.
- Add a large spoonful to the courgette mixture and stir in, then gently fold in the rest, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible. Pour into the tin.
- Bake for approx 60 mins, depending on your oven, until firm to the touch; it should spring back when you lightly press the middle.
- Cool in the tin for 15 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl.
- Add the lemon zest. Melt the butter and pour over the icing sugar.
- Add the lemon juice and stir together quickly, adding a splash of cold water if needed, until you have a thick but spreadable icing.
- Use a pallet knife to spread over the cake.
- Leave for approx 30 mins if you can, so the icing can set a little, before serving sprinkled with poppy seeds.
It looks beautiful 🙂
That’s beautiful!!!
This is so pretty, do the fresh flowers – are they borage and violas – last for long on top of your icing and what are the green flecks – only this afternoon I have been looking at far to many courgettes, wondering what to do with them.
Yes, borage, violas and honeysuckle. The fresh flowers do look slightly sad today, but half the huge cake disappeared yesterday, so it isn’t going to hang around for long. It feels like a party cake to be eaten on the day. I guess you could make marzipan flowers or sugar coat them for longevity. Borage does dry brilliantly, but I am not sure that you’d want to eat it then.
PS the green flecks were grated lime (‘cos I ran out of lemons)
Thanks for this – I had a danish recipe for similar, long misplaced!
You are welcome. I know the feeling!
Reblogged this on writingindevizes and commented:
Tasty, beautiful and with courgette.
Thanks for that!
Oh, how delicious and it looks so pretty good with its floral decoration. Thanks very much. I’ ll certainly give this one a try.
You won’t regret it. Now that I know how to do that tasty icing I will be using that everywhere too!
BEAUTIFUL! I have to try this + love the flowers for decorations. It reminds me of a spring cake:-)
You are a contributing factor to the decor! Ever since seeing your gorgeous violas in salads I have been obsessed with them.
lol:-) Historical pansies you can get them from Chiltern seeds:-)
http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_1280w_viola_x_wittrockiana_historic_florist_pansies_mixed_seeds
They are healthy + pretty:-) If we all grow them than they will be around for the future. I had such a hard time finding them this past year. I am saving seed from now on- so I am never without out them. I need to try some on a cake like you have done. Hope to see them in your garden-pass the word lets all save the seed:-)
I’ve just bought some!
super! Can’t wait to see your flowers!
I planted my couchettes very late this year, the seed wasn’t even sown until we came back from the States in early July but they are producing now so a cake might be a very nice thing to make with some of them. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
That’s impressive growth! Mine languished in the garden till about then, but then suddenly grew like mad.
The presentation of this cake is amazing! Great recipe, must try this!
Thanks so much. It is a delicious combination. Good luck!