The Challenges Continue, Garden Style

So remember where I said on Tuesday (after my Carrot Cake victory dance) that my next "I don't like that" food domino was Zucchini? And that I made a Zucchini cake?

Heh.

Mum's objections to "items baked with Zucchini" are borderline similar to those for "items baked with carrot." Removing the cream cheese frosting and raisin components, we're left with "too sweet" and "wet." And for the most part I'm on board with that. Anything snackish made with Zucchini, Squash, Pumpkin, or (heaven forbid because that stuff is GROSS) Banana (ughughughfest) are more often than not damp, saccharine, and odd.

They unfortunately tend to occupy the taste no man's land that lies halfway between the vegetable being used and an afternoon snack. And nobody wants to be in that no man's land. It's a bleak, gray, uncomfortable place, full of awkward chairs, sporks, lukewarm coffee, and those brown recycled paper towels that leave little bits all over your hands.

BUT

Riding high on my Carrot Cake victory, I decided to take Zucchini on. I have conquered the Pumpkin Seed mountain, I have destroyed the Carrot mountain. Am I ready for Zucchini? To that, I respond, dear reader, Am I a Warrior Beetle or not? OF COURSE I AM READY FOR ZUCCHINI. THE REAL QUESTION IS, IS ZUCCHINI READY FOR ME?

Btw do you know how hard it is to spell Zucchini? I have seriously misspelled and been corrected by spellcheck every single time I've typed it so far. If I was a mouse in one of those mazes I would be the one that kept going down the same corridor and getting shocked until they gave up on me and let me eat food pellets in peace till the end of my days.

And if you think about it, I'm really doing "snack items baked with vegetables" a favour. Because maybe there are other people who think like us (probability is low but still) and maybe they've held off from trying recipes like this because they think they will hate anything in that category. And maybe someday they'll come across this post (further reducing the possibility) and think "huh. why not give it a go?" and then they will be SO HAPPY when it works out and I will have given them a new lease on life.

So, for the one person who will, for the entirety of future time, fall into that category, you're welcome. I'm happy to help.

Ok so since I'm getting sick of spellcheck's totally condescending red squiggly line, and since this recipe is from BBC Food magazine and therefore uses the word "Courgette" instead of Zucchini, and since I can spell courgette with no difficulty whatsoever, I'm switching over as of this moment.

I present, dear reader, the next Beetle Culinary Challenge:

FROSTED COURGETTE AND LEMON CAKE

This recipe is in the same feature as the Carrot Ginger Spice Cake. The feature is called, charmingly Britishly, "Garden Bakes." Here's the link. The only recipe left to try in the feature is Beetroot Brownies. I'll get there eventually I promise, I'll just need a good long lie down first.

I don't know yet how this will go down, I frosted it this afternoon. But I will let you know. Lovely Librarians, a little Beetle Baker will drop this off for you tomorrow morning before you arrive. Sort of like the elves and the shoemaker except much better because shoes vs cake = no contest.

BEETLE NOTES

Look at the adorable little organic ones they had.
They are so very cute. 

Much like the carrot cake preparation, I decided when it called for grated courgette to peel them to bits and then chop roughly, seeds and all. I will say that this is deliberate because it makes it more chewy and fun to eat and healthier and less prissy, but in reality have you ever tried to grate a courgette? Exactly.

Voila the peels that will soon be chopped. 

Poppy Seeds aren't used enough I think, and obvs that's
because of the teeth situation, but really they are quite good. And pretty. 

Also fun was when I leant my body weight on the knife blade when the cutting side was on my hand instead of the cutting board and ow. Don't worry, the cake isn't a hazmat situation. It was just another one of those many "Stupid Beetle" moments.

One thing I was not prepared for was how completely watery the batter becomes when you mix in the courgettes. In retrospect, makes perfect sense because of course courgettes, like cucumbers, are mostly water. But all of a sudden I went "ohhhhh that's going to happen" and then I was fine. And once you add the flour it dries up nicely and everything goes back to normal. But be ready.

 As you can see above, the batter is GORGEOUS and so nice-smelling. There's A LOT of lemon in this thing, and once you add the courgette it's a very fresh, gardeny, summery smell, not sweet or cakey at all.

As you can see, fairly thin cakes. Slender cakes.
Svelte cakes, if you will. 

The recipe calls for something very British called a "sandwich tin" but whatever you guys that's the reason we left your island in the first place. I used two 9-inch cake pans. The amount-of-batter situation is the classic "too much for one cake pan" and "on-the-thin-side cakes when made with two" but I chose the latter. Plus when you do two layers a super fun and happy universe opens up. It's called WHAT TO PUT BETWEEN THEM?

Can you see where I'm going with this? 

EXACTLY. 

To be fair, the "anti cream cheese frosting" argument is valid here, because they indicate that you should make the very same. But, rebel beetle that I am, I decided to keep it light and non insane and put a thin layer of lemon curd between the layers (see photos) and then make a plain lemon icing, which wouldn't totally overpower the cake and would also reduce the feeling of "holy crap I just ate a massive piece of cake", something which is almost always triggered by cream cheese frosting.

Thus the lemon icing. 

I DID, genius Beetle that I am, invent the idea of mixing the icing with a bit more of the lemon curd. Which a.) makes it thicker and b.)how could it be a bad idea. 

I wanted it to drip down the sides a little but not completely drown it, so I spooned it in the center of the cake one spoon at a time and spread it out in circles (very soothing, spreading icing in circles) until it started to go over the edge. 

The view from the top. Note small lemon curd peels. 

So, dear reader, the last piece of carrot cake awaits the dessert trolley this evening. The Lemon Courgette cake will be up tomorrow night. Lovely Librarians, I expect you to weigh in as well. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new and incredibly exciting chapter of "GARDEN BAKES." One can only hold one's breath in gleeful yet terrified anticipation. And eat more cake.