The courgette glut has been coming thick and fast for the past few weeks and we’ve been harvesting more than we really know what to do with from our four courgette plants. They’ve been huge too – more like marrows. Courgettes are one of our allotment staples as they don’t require too much intervention to grow provided the weather is sunny and dry enough for them to be pollinated, otherwise they just have to be pollinated by hand which isn’t too tricky. We’ve grown Clarion F1 this year, but I’m keen to try different non-hybrid varieties next year – perhaps some yellow ones or those spherical ones too for a bit of fun. Our clarions have been absolutely massive and they work particularly well for stuffing and roasting which we’ve enjoyed.
I had a few courgette recipes in my repertoire, but I did resort to asking people in Instagram what they liked to do with courgettes and I got some really interesting answers. Everything from stuffed courgette to tempura and even a courgette and ginger jam. I also tried a lovely Bengali pickle recipe sent to me by the lovely Sohini Banerjee who hosts her supper club, Smoke and Lime, in North London. I knew courgettes were pretty popular in cakes, and the courgette & ginger jam suggestion made me wonder what a courgette and ginger cake might be like. Turns out it’s pretty delicious!
The recipe here was inspired by the McVities “Jamaican Ginger Cake” I used to eat when I was a child. I loved the sweet, sticky texture and thought that the courgette would add that moisture that would make it lovely and dense. This isn’t a light, fluffy cake, but a rich, spicy loaf with plenty of kick from 4 different ginger elements: ginger wine, ground ginger, fresh ginger and crystallised stem ginger. I can just hear my Mum saying “that should stick your ribs together!”
Courgette & Ginger Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g dark brown sugar
- 175g golden syrup
- 2 tbsp ginger wine
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 300g grated courgette
- 275g self raising flour
- 4 tsp ground ginger
- 50g fresh ginger
- 100g stem ginger
Method
- Preheat oven to 180C/160C Fan and grease a 1lb loaf tin.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth before pouring in the syrup, wine and beaten eggs. Beat again until smooth.
- Stir in the courgette until combined, sift in the flour and ground ginger and fold together with the fresh and stem ginger.
- Transfer the mixture to the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.
Tips
This cake will freeze fairly well if it is well wrapped to avoid contact with the air. It should be cooled completely before freezing and thawed completely before eating.
Let me know if you try this recipe by commenting below or tagging me on Instagram @plotandlane – I love seeing your creations!
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Absolutely GORGEOUS! Thank you x
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