Courgette Cake

* 250g butter, broken up into pieces (at room temperature)
* 450g (1 cup) caster sugar or brown sugar
* 4 eggs
* 350g (3 cups) self raising flour
* juice and zest of 1 an orange
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp mixed spice
* 350g (3 cups) courgette (zucchini), grated
* 50g (1/2 cup) walnuts, roughly chopped
* 80g (1/2 cup) sultanas

Orange Cream Cheese Icing

* 125g cream cheese
* 50g unsalted butter
* 300g icing sugar
* juice and zest of 1/4 orange

Method

1. Courgette Cake: Grease and line a 25cm deep cake tin with baking paper. Preheat an oven to 180°C.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing until the eggs are well incorporated.
3. Sieve the flour with the cinnamon and mixed spice. Fold in a 1/3 of the flour, followed by 1/2 of the orange juice and zest, repeat this using the remaining flour and orange, so that all the ingredients are well combined.
4. Stir in the courgette, walnuts and sultanas and incorporate well.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and place on the centre shelf of the preheated oven. Leave the cake to cook for around 1 hour or until the cake is firm to touch (if preparing 2x20cm cake tins, reduce the cooking time to 30-40 minutes). Turn the cake out on a rack and allow to cool.  I use 2x2lb loaf tins and bake for 1hr 30 mins
6. Orange Cream Cheese Icing: Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and orange juice and zest until you have a smooth creamy icing. Spread over the cooled cake. If you have prepared 2x20cm cakes, spread the icing over the top of the one and sandwich the two cakes together and then cover the top and sides of the cake