For many of us who choose to grow courgettes each year, there becomes a time when the glut arrives. I've even tried growing less plants but it seems that doesn't work as the ones I do have cherish the added space and spread further and faster than ever before!
I think at the peak so far there has been close to double digits in number of courgettes in the fridge even after giving some away to friends, family and neighbours. So what do we do with all of them to ensure they don't go to waste? In the following article I'll give you a couple of cake recipes we have used so far and my thoughts on them, plus what else do we plan on doing with them?
Chocolate courgette cake, this moist almost brownie like cake is so good I made two in two days! Don't worry some is being given away! a nice simple recipe as follows:
Mix together in one bowl 250g plain flour, 375g caster sugar, 65g cocoa powder, 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt & 1 tsp ground cinnamon then add 4 eggs & 350ml vegetable oil and mix well. Then fold in 340g of grated courgette plus a decent handful of white chocolate chips. Transfer the mixture to a greased and lined 20x30cm baking tray and bake at 180 C for approx 50 mins or until when poked with a knife it should come out with just a small amount of cake stuck to it (this gives it the brownie like texture)
In a similar recipe I also made a lemon and courgette cake. 200g plain flour, 150g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Again combine all the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients, 1 egg, 125ml vegetable oil and zest of one lemon and mix well before folding in 200g grated courgette. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake at 160 C for approx 45 mins or until a knife test comes out clean.
I'll be honest the chocolate cake won hands down for me, the lemon one was a bit heavy and maybe could have done with another 5 mins in the oven.
Over the weekend I plan on using some more courgettes in a potato and courgette dauphinoise recipe as given to me by Karen - @welliesandwaffles I highly recommend following her on Instagram as she also posted about our subscription box on her feed. I'll also be making up a batch of courgette and tomato sauce to freeze and use in pasta dishes over the winter.