Courgette, honey and lemon cake recipe

The mighty lemon drizzle cake is everyone's favourite, said Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. This spin on it includes courgettes: as well as helping you up your plant intake, they keep the cake nice and moist. The lemon drizzle topping makes the cake irresistibly zingy. To turn it into a dinner party dessert, serve it with crème fraîche, summer berries and an extra trickle of honey.

Ingredients

• 350g coarsely grated courgettes (about 2 medium)
• ½ tsp fine salt 
• 150g wholemeal spelt flour
• 100g fine plain wholemeal flour 
• 100g ground almonds or hazelnuts 
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 30g poppy seeds (optional) 
• 125ml rapeseed or coconut oil 
• 50g soft light brown sugar 
• 30g honey 
• 3 medium eggs 
• finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons 
• 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked and chopped (optional) 
• 50ml milk

For the lemon drizzle: 

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• finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon 
• 1 tbsp honey 
• 20g caster sugar

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan and line a 1kg (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.  
• Tip the grated courgettes into a fine-meshed sieve set over a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt and toss through (to draw out moisture). Leave to drain for 20 mins or so, then press the courgettes with the back of a spoon to get rid of a bit more water.
• In a bowl, mix together the flours, ground nuts, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and poppy seeds, if using. Set aside. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar and honey. Beat in the eggs, one by one, then stir in the courgettes, lemon zest and juice and thyme. Gently fold in the flour mixture, adding the milk as you go. Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45-50 mins until golden and risen. 
• While the cake is in the oven, make the lemon drizzle. In a small bowl, lightly mix the lemon zest and juice with the honey and sugar to combine without dissolving the sugar.
• To check the cake is cooked, insert a skewer into the middle – it should come out clean. As soon as you take the cake from the oven, spoon the lemon drizzle over the surface. Leave the cake in the tin for 10 mins, then transfer it to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.
• Swaps/additions: use grated squash or pumpkin instead of courgette. Or go 50:50 with courgette and a grated root, such as beetroot, carrot or parsnip. Just mix it with the courgette before salting. Beetroot, as you can imagine, makes a gorgeous pinky-purple version.

Taken from How to Eat 30 Plants a Week by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, published by Bloomsbury at £25. Photography by Lizzie Mayson. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £19.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

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