Courgette and lemon cake with raspberry buttercream

A cake that tastes as good as it looks – and I mean it REALLY delivers!

We met some friends at the South Bank recently and had an indoor picnic at the Royal Festival Hall. We took our own cake supplies and got the teas in from the cafe. Apparently this is okay – unlike other indoor play areas I could mention…

It’s a brilliant place to hang out with the family for a few hours if you’re in that part of town. The Christmas Market on the South Bank is well worth a gander – all twinkly and festive and full of delights like these…

After you’ve got bored of the crowds, take a rug and camp out on the floor in the ballroom of the Festival Hall while the kids run around like loons and do that thing where they skid on their knees for great distances while you drink tea and eat cake.

Yes back to the cake. This is an easy bake with lots of jobs for the kids – grating courgette, cracking an egg, mixing. And it has fruit and vegetables in it – yes, this is health food! 😉 I’m desperately trying to sneak fruit into Arlo’s diet at the moment and cake seems to be the most agreeable vehicle for this…

The raspberry frosting was inspired by clever Maison Cupcake Sarah’s video over with those Crumbs girls – I thought the flavours would work well together and take the edge off the sweet buttercream.

The cake is something I found scribbled in my pile of clippings and ideas, and I can’t quite remember where it came from… probably when I was desperately trying to find recipes to use up courgettes last year!

Anyway I know it’s not particularly seasonal, but it’s a wonderful tea time treat! Moist sponge with lots of zingy flavours…

Courgette and lemon cake with raspberry buttercream

For the cake
200g courgette, grated
150g caster sugar
1 egg
125ml corn oil
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
zest of 2 lemons

For the frosting
140g butter, softened
280g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
handful raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Put the grated courgette, sugar, egg and oil in a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined.

2. In another bowl sift in the dry ingredients, then add the lemon zest. Combine the two mixtures and then turn into the cake tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

3. To make the frosting. Beat the butter until light, gradually mix in the icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then finally add the raspberries – mixing until they mush into the icing turning it pink with a few red flecks.

4. Spread a generous amount over the cooled cake and then slice and serve with steaming cups of tea.

Tip: If you have any frosting left pop it into the freezer for another day.