Courgette and pistachio cake

Spring is springing and this is a good thing.

Whilst down in the West Country visiting my parents this weekend, I happened across a copy of my mum's Good Housekeeping and they had a lovely recipe for a courgette and pistachio cake... and as luck would have it, I had just bought a cake tin with a hole in it - like a Bundt tin. Good times.

So on a mission we went to find some courgettes, but its not really the season yet I discovered. I should know this. It was last summer that I first attempted courgette cake, sort of like a carrot like with the cream cheese frosting but a bit greener and slightly more gooier than spongey, I'm guessing due to the amount of water contained in courgettes. For this reason, its best to add a little more flour than required. But yes, we eventually managed to find some courgettes, thank you Mr independent grocer!

I would rather buy roasted salted pistachios and shell them myself. There's something about this shelling process that I find soothing. I just love how the salty taste of the outer skin of the pistachios works with the sugar, like a sweet / salty texture so its not overly sickening with the drizzle icing. You could just used unsalted pistachios if you are watching your salt intake.

Ingredients for the cake:-

150ml vegetable oil
250g self-raising flour
50g pistachios chopped
3 eggs
175g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
2 small courgettes grated


Method:-

Preheat oven to 180C or gas mark 4.  Grease and lightly flour a 10inch bundt tin.

Coarsely chop the pistachios and put to one side.

In a glass bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. Add the flour and bicarb of soda and stir to combine.

Add the grated courgettes  and chopped pistachios. Transfer to the prepared bundt tin and ensure level.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave for 5 minutes to cool in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing:-

125g icing sugar
1 tbsp roughly chopped pistachios

Mix the icing with a tsp of water to get a smooth, fairly thick icing. Slide the cake onto a cake stand or plate. Drizzle over the icing in a zig zag pattern and scatter over the chopped pistachios.