There are a few things that you can expect to see on a regular basis over at Frills 'n' Spills, ridiculous poses are up there, bright colours are always popular, but food and recipes are always a given. I got the Leon 'Family & Friends' cookbook for Christmas and this is the first recipe I have made from it and as ever, Leon have not let me down. Mark and I made these cakes last weekend and they are a lovely light treat to eat whenever you fancy something sweet. (I'm a poet and I know it...) Thanks to the courgette I think you could also count this as 1 of your 5 a day too* - bonus!
Heat your oven to 180 C and line a cupcake tin with paper cake cases.
Beat 125 g of softened butter and 125 g of light brown sugar together until creamy.
Add an egg and stir it in and then do the same with another.
Sift 175 g of flour (the recipe suggests gluten free but I only had normal self raising) 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice into a bowl. Gradually add your flour mixture into your butter sugar and eggs and fold in until smooth.
Grate 175 g of courgettes (we only have a huge grater but the larger pieces were also nice!) and add to the mixture along with the juice and zest of an orange (you can also use a lemon for a zingier taste) If you would like to add texture to your mixture, add 25 g of walnuts (again this is optional)
Scoop your mixture into each cake case and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. In a fan oven like ours it only took 20 minutes so it is worth checking them. FYI the recipe says it makes 12 fairycakes but we made 12 cakes PLUS 6 muffins so the mixture does go quite far.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Whilst they are cooling, you can make your cream cheese icing. Again this is optional and I left it off the muffins as we were freezing them but it does make the cakes extra gooey.
*
Beat 25 g of softened unsalted butter in a bowl with 65 g of cream cheese (I used Philadelphia) Gradually add 150 g of sifted icing sugar and the juice and zest of 1/4 of a lemon (or orange!). Spread generously over the cakes when they have cooled down and garnish with a walnut.
Enjoy with a film and a cup of tea!
*maybe not. It's probably not the best idea to take dietary advice from someone who thinks that a balanced diet is a cake in either hand ;)
7 comments
Oh I have endless amounts of love for you for not calling them by the dreaded c word. Fairycakes all the way! They look gorgeous.
These look amazing! I love Leon although have yet to cook anything from my Leon cookbook, I just look at the pictures of the food. x
These look so yummy!
x
Ooh I LOVE courgette cake, even better in cupcake form! MMmmmmm xxx
Those look so good! I've tried adding sweet potato mash to brownines (so good!) and I've heard beetroot is also really good substitute : )
These look fantastic! I made courgette cake once and it was really nice, I imagine these are similar.
I love Leon and I like courgettes. This sounds odd but such a winner also!
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