Autumn often brings with it an abundance of fresh produce.  We’ve been inundated with courgettes so we have made them into a delicious courgette cake where the icing on the top really is Pure Maple goodness.

Ingredients

• 250ml sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing)
• 300g self-raising flour
• 3 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 250g light soft brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 300g of courgette flesh, coarsely grated and squeezed of any liquid (we used our yellow courgettes but any variety is good)
• 200g pecan, roughly chopped

For the icing

• 50g butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese
• 4 tbsp Pure Maple syrup

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C or 140C for a fan oven.  Grease and line your 22cm springform cake tin  Sift the flour, spice and baking powder into a bowl and mix in the sugar.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, orange zest and juice, then pour in the oil.  Add the courgette and 150g of the pecans to the oil mixture.  Beat in the flour until combined.  Tip the mixture into the cake tin, smooth the top and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes (or until the skewer comes out clean).  Leave to cool for 30 minutes before removing from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool.

Whilst the cake is cooking, make the icing by beating together all the ingredients.  Once the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread the icing over the top.  Sprinkle over the rest of the pecans to decorate.

Serve and enjoy!