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Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing

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A lovely light and zesty cake. This Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing is the perfect cake to make to use up a glut of courgettes! 

Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing

A nigella Classic

This Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing is a Nigella Lawson classic. She is a cook that likes delicious food that isn’t too fussy. So you know this cake is going to be tasty and not take you all day to bake!

I have ever so slightly tweaked the recipe. Nigella suggests adding raisins but I have never made it with raisins in.

I do like raisins but I don’t add them to my Carrot Cake either. I know a lot of people are funny about raisins in cakes so it is always easier to leave them out!

courgettes are great in baking

Courgettes or zucchinis are great to use in baking. They add a lovely moisture to the finished cake as well as flecks of green.

If you’re a little bit apprehensive about the idea of courgette in cakes; just remind yourself how delicious carrot cake is!

You can’t actually taste the courgettes in the cake at all. So you get all the goodness without tasting courgette.

A great way to use homegrown produce

Growing your own vegetables has become increasingly popular in the last few years. Whether that is in an allotment or your own back garden.

If you’re lucky, you could end up with a bumper crop of vegetables. However they do all seem to ripen at the same time!

This Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing is a great way or using up a glut of courgettes. My parents have an allotment and I have made this cake many times using their courgettes.

When are courgettes in season?

If you grow your own, you won’t need me to tell you when courgettes are in season!

Although courgettes are available to buy year round, they are at their best from June to October. This is when you would

Grating the courgettes

For this cake you need one medium to large sized courgette. Because it isn’t much to grate at all I always use a handheld grater.

You could use a food processor if you prefer, but this seems like a lot of washing up for just one courgette to me!

You do need to use a coarse grater for the courgette though. If the grater is too fine the courgette will turn mushy which isn’t what you want.

A coarse grater will give you the individual strands that you need without it turning into courgette pulp.

Which cream cheese is best to use?

Cream cheese or soft cheese; whatever you call it is my favourite type of icing.

Although it is delicious, it is sometimes a little trickier to use than buttercream as it is typically runnier.

It is essential that you always use full fat cream cheese when you are making icing. Low or reduced fat cream cheese is thinner as it doesn’t have the fat content needed to help keep its shape.

If you were to use reduced fat cream cheese the icing is likely to escape over the edge of the cake. Although this won’t ruin the cake it will mean it isn’t as pretty.

If you are desperate to make this cake and only have reduced fat cream cheese you can give it a go, but don’t say I didn’t tell you about the icing being runny!

Why does this courgette cake have lemon curd as a filling and not icing?

Something a little unique about this cake is that the filling is lemon curd and not icing.

Usually if cakes have icing or buttercream on the top, you might expect to see it in the filling too.

The combination of the lemon curd filling works so well with the cream cheese icing. The lemon curd brings a delicious freshness to the cake which cuts through the rich cream cheese icing.

Which lemon curd is best to use?

I always have a jar of lemon curd in my fridge. It adds an instant delicious flavour to all number of cakes and desserts. 

I would recommend buying a good quality lemon curd if possible as you will notice the difference in the finished cake. 

You could definitely make your own lemon curd for this cake. Check out FabFood4All’s Granny’s Quick Lemon Curd for step my step instructions on how to make your own.

If you wanted to make it a little bit different, you could use lime curd. This would work well with the lime juice in the icing. FabFood4All also has a 5 Minute Lime Curd recipe.

A simple but pretty cake

One of the things I like most about this cake is how pretty it looks and how little effort it takes.

I really like the green flecks of courgette you get throughout the cake and the look of the white icing oozing over the side of the cake.

It isn’t a cake that takes lots of time to assemble which is another advantage. No piping is required, just a bit of spreading and sprinkling!

Can I use different sized tins?

This Courgette Cake uses two, eight inch cake tins. The sponges it makes are not the thickest but they are light and fluffy.

If you wanted to make this cake more of a statement or to feed more people I would recommend increasing the recipe by half and making three layers.

You could also use three six inch cake tins to make a smaller, taller cake. Just remember the smaller cakes will take less time to cook so check on them after 15-20 minutes.

If you would prefer cupcakes, I would recommend looking at my Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese.

How long will this cake keep for?

This cake will keep for 3-4 days. As it includes cream cheese I would always recommend storing it in an airtight container in the fridge.

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5 from 25 votes
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Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing

A lovely light and zesty cake. This Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing is the perfect cake to make to use up a glut of courgettes! 

Course Cake
Cuisine British
Keyword Lemon curd, Cream Cheese Icing, Courgette, Zucchini
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 12
Calories 355 kcal
Author Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 250 g courgettes (approx 2 courgette)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 125 ml vegetable oil
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 225 g self-raising flour
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder

For the filling:

  • 150 g Lemon curd

For the frosting:

  • 200 g full fat cream cheese
  • 100 g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 25 g unsalted pistachios chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat then oven to 160°C (fan assisted, 180ºC non fan). Grease and line two 8 inch round cake tins

  2. Rinse the courgettes and then grate them using a coarse grater

  3. Put eggs, oil and sugar into a bowl and mix until creamy

  4. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Stir in the grated courgette

  5. Divide the mixture into the two tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean

  6. Leave to cool for approx 30 minutes and then remove from the tins and allow to cool completely on a wire rack

  7. Turn one of the cakes upside down on a plate and spread the lemon curd onto it

  8. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until completely combined and smooth

  9. Once combined, add the lime juice. Pour the icing onto the cake and smooth to cover the cake
  10. Scatter with the chopped pistachios

Recipe Notes

Make sure you use a coarse grater as if it is too small the courgettes will become mushy. 

Keep the cake covered in the fridge for 3-4 days. 

Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary. 

Nutrition Facts
Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Icing
Amount Per Serving
Calories 355 Calories from Fat 126
% Daily Value*
Fat 14g22%
Saturated Fat 10g63%
Cholesterol 31mg10%
Sodium 104mg5%
Potassium 127mg4%
Carbohydrates 43g14%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 29g32%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 92IU2%
Vitamin C 4mg5%
Calcium 22mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Cat says

      Hi Caroline,

      I’m pretty sure the last time I made this cake I used sunflower oil and it didn’t make a difference. I just use supermarket brand oils for vegetable and sunflower oils.

      You’ve made me want to make this cake again now! x

      Reply

  4. Beth Sachs says

    5 stars
    I love courgette cake as it’s so lovely and moist. I usually make a chocolate one but I’m a lemon curd fan so will definitely have to give this one a go.

    Reply

    • Curly says

      This is definitely a lighter and fresher version than chocolate (which is also delicious). If you like lemon curd you will really like this 🙂

      Reply

  11. Jo says

    5 stars
    I made this today and it’s unbelievably light. I added some lemon zest to the filling and just and icing sugar glaze as I don’t like cream cheese and… I’ve eaten two slice already. Delish!

    Reply

  12. anna says

    5 stars
    Having seen the 5 star rating I thought I’d give this cake a go…after all I have 6 courgette plants that are spewing out courgettes at great speed. I had previously tried another courgette cake recipe which was nice but more complicated with lots of ingredients which resulted in a tasty but rather heavy/solid cake.

    This was completely the opposite and very easy to make, I followed the instructions to the letter with ease. The cake was perfectly cooked after 25 minutes and has been a massive hit with everyone who has tried it. It’s exceptionally light and moist and tastes fab. One that I will make regularly because it’s so easy and tasty and Summery. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • Curly says

      So pleased you like it Anna. This recipe came about after my parents had a glut of courgettes from their allotment. Now it’s one of our favourites.

      Reply

  13. Diana Beech says

    Hello,
    Do you know if this recipe would work in a loaf tin, or would it not rise properly because of the thickness? Thinking of then putting the cream cheese frosting in the middle.
    (I need it to be more ‘portable’ than a round cake for my walking group’s coffee stop!)

    Reply

    • Curly says

      Hi Diana, sorry this isn’t something I have tried. It could work in a loaf tin, but I have no idea how the cream cheese would work in the middle I’m afraid.

      Reply

  14. Rosa says

    5 stars
    This bake was a real success! I didn’t have pistachios so I used toasted coconut flakes on the cream cheese frosting. I also used lime juice in the frosting and lemon zest in the sponge. It made for a delicious treat!

    Reply

  15. Olive says

    I really loved the cake, it was delicious. Can I freeze sponges for without curd and topping for later?
    Thank you

    Reply

    • Curly says

      Thanks so much Olive. Yes absolutely, make sure they are thoroughly wrapped and you can freeze the sponges to decorate later.

      Reply

  16. Sandra Wright says

    5 stars
    This cake is deeeelicious! It’s so easy to make and is soft and light even after a couple of days. If you didn’t say anything, nobody would know there was courgette in it. And it’s not overly sweet.

    Reply

  17. Florence says

    This cake looks delicious! Do you need to squeeze out the excess liquid from the courgettes as I’ve seen in other recipes?

    Reply

  18. Clara says

    5 stars
    I made this cake fir my mum’s 75 birthday. She lives with me and she has an allotment with lots of courgettes, of course :)…so it will be a surprise birthday cake for her.
    Thank you for the recipe.
    God bless you

    Reply

    • Curly says

      Hi Clara, I think everyone that has an allotment seems to have an abundance of courgettes which always makes me laugh! I hope she liked the cake and had a lovely birthday.

      Reply

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