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This delicious Courgette Cake recipe is so easy to make, packed with lime and topped with delicious mascarpone cream cheese frosting icing. It’s the perfect summer bake to use your vegetables in! It’s also easily made gluten free.
Have you ever grown courgettes yourself? If you haven’t grown them before and you fancy yourself as a gardener, courgettes are 100% the summer thing to grow.
They just grow and grow, often giving a glut of them to cook up in various ways.
If that’s not reason enough to grow some, two more words: Courgette Cake. It’s SO GOOD.
A delicious texture, all made in one bowl, and a portion of veg as a bonus. To me, this is one of the tastes of summer.
Even if you’re not a gardener, please buy some courgettes and try this Courgette Cake recipe!
What else to make with courgettes…
Why you’ll love this Courgette Cake recipe
⭐️ Super simple and all prepped in one bowl
⭐️ Great way of using up courgettes produce
⭐️ Cake AND veg combo for bonus points
EASY Cake recipes
If it’s easy cake recipes you’re after, you could also try:
➡️ Yoghurt Pot Cake – No scales needed!
➡️ Biscoff Cheesecake – Only 5 ingredients
➡️ Lemon Drizzle Cake – Over 250 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reviews
➡️ Banana Cake – Prepare in under 10 minutes
➡️ White Chocolate Cheesecake – Simple no-bake recipe
➡️ Pumpkin Cake – Simplified easy seasonal recipe
Courgette Cake Ingredients Notes
- Eggs – I use free range medium
- Courgettes – Use about 150g (weight after being grated and the excess water squeezed out). This is roughly 1 medium-large courgette
- Pistachios – I LOVE these pistachio nut slivers. I’ve only found them on Amazon but I think that they really finish this cake beautifully. You’ll only use some of a pack to decorate this cake, but they keep well in the fridge
- Limes – Zest only. This is a tasty addition and makes texture lovely and moist
- For the icing: mascarpone cheese, icing sugar and lime juice
How to make Courgette Cake
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and coarsely grate your courgettes. Squeeze out the excess water thoroughly.
2. Mix the sugar, oil and eggs until well beaten.
3. Stir in the grated courgettes, nuts, lime zest, self raising flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon. Combine well.
4. Pour the mixture into a lined and greased loaf tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until cooked through. Allow to cool then remove from the tin.
5. Meanwhile, make the icing by very gently combining the mascarpone with sieved icing sugar and lime juice. Pop into the fridge until the cake is totally cold.
6. Smooth the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle on the pistachios and more lime zest.
Substitutions
- Gluten free flour – Substitute the self-raising flour for gluten free if you’d rather
- Pistachios – You can leave this out if you prefer. They aren’t totally necessary but add a lovely bite. You can try other nuts if you prefer
Storing
Store this in a cake tin or sealed container. You don’t need to refrigerate it but you can if you like. It should last up to 3 days (if it hasn’t been devoured by then!)
Top tips
Drying the courgettes
Squeezing the water out of the courgettes is really important, or you could end up with a soggy cake.
I use a clean tea towel for this job (which is a bit annoying as we then have a mucky tea towel BUT does get the most liquid out and saves a lot of time.) You could also use bare clean hands or a sieve.
Coarsely grate the courgettes
Be sure to use the coarse side of your grater or food processor setting for your courgettes. I’ve used a fine one before and the texture wasn’t quite as good. they will be too mushy if you use a very fine grater.
Cream cheese frosting
When you make your cream cheese frosting, mix very softly and slowly to avoid the icing getting too runny. If it does go a little runny, pop into the fridge for an hour to firm up.
You could try a simplified cream cheese icing recipe instead if you’d rather.
FAQs
My secret weapon for any recipes with citrus zest in is my Microplane Zester. I know I’m a wimp but I used to hate making Lemon Drizzle Cake before splashing out on one of these.
They have SO many glowing reviews. You can buy them here on Amazon: Microplane Premium Zester.
A sturdy good quality loaf tin that conducts the heat evenly will really make a difference to your bakes. This non-stick loaf tin on Amazon is a good buy.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Courgette Cake {with Lime & Cream Cheese Icing}
Ingredients
- 175 g Caster sugar
- 175 ml Sunflower oil
- 3 Free range eggs, Medium
- 150 g Courgettes, Weight after squeezing out excess water
- 100 g Pistachio nuts, shelled, Optional
- 2 Limes, Zest only
- 175 g Self raising flour
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp Ground cinnamon
For the icing:
- 150 g Mascarpone cheese
- 150 g Icing sugar
- 1 Lime, Juice only
To decorate:
- Pistachio slivers and more lime zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Mix the sugar, oil and eggs until well beaten.
- Stir in the grated courgettes (after you've squeezed out the liquid – see recipe tips).
- Stir in the nuts (if using), lime zest, self raising flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon. Stir until totally combined.
- Pour into a lined and greased loaf tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until cooked through and a skewer comes out clean.
- Allow to cool and remove from the tin.
- Meanwhile, make the icing by very gently combining the mascarpone with sieved icing sugar and lime juice. Pop into the fridge until the cake is totally cold.
- Smooth the icing over the top of the cake and sprinkle on the pistachios and more lime zest if you fancy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Very easy to make and totally delicious 🤤
Really tasty. Would definitely make it again. I think a typo in the body of the recipe, I assume the icing should use the lime juice and not the zest. I wonder if I could substitute the mascarpone cream with cream cheese (as it is a more easily reusable ingredient in my kitchen).
I love this. I make it as a sandwich cake. Have done lemon drizzle a nod now I add ginger and sultanas. With a vanilla butter filing.
Serves 10? I can eat mine by myself in 2 days – ha ha.
Hey, yummy recipe. Just wanted to clarify whether the nutritional values are for the whole cake or for a piece?
Thank you for sharing!
Sadly just one piece!!
AMAZING . Tastes fantastic and I made a lime drizzle had no mascarpone . I recommend trying this cake. The recipe is easy to follow and you will be surprised how great it tastes.
I have never tried courgette s in a cake but this cake is AMAZING . Tastes fantastic and I made a lime drizzle had no mascarpone . I recommend trying this cake. The recipe is easy to follow and you will be surprised how great it tastes.
Easiest cake ever really delicious
Just made this as have a glut of courgette – OMG delicious – have already passed on to a few others who have also made it!! Thank you so much 😊
This doesn’t work with gluten free flour sadly. Tastes nice but falls apart
It worked beautifully for me. I used Doves Farm flour and a half teaspoon of xanthan gum.
Yum, this is a great cake, and brilliant when you have a ‘glut’ of courgettes as I do – thank you so much
Thanks so much, hope you like it!