Zucchini Orange Cake

This recipe is from BBC GoodFood Magazine. If you like Carrot Cake, you will like this cake too.  Zucchini or Courgettes are as successful as carrots in baking, giving a moist, slightly speckled sponge. In fact, I thought this was even better than carrot cake.

For the Cake
350g Zucchini ( no need to peel)
200g Soft Brown Sugar
125ml Sunflower Oil
3 Large Eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 Orange
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
100g Sultanas
300g Self-rising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder

For the Cream Cheese Frosting
200g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
100g Icing Sugar, sifted
Good grating of Orange Zest

Method
1. Heat Oven to 180C/160C Fan/gas 4. Lightly oil and line a 1kg loaf tin with a strip of baking parchment.

2. Finely grate the zucchini, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can with your hands.

3. Stir the zucchini with the sugar, sunflower oil, eggs, orange zest, vanilla and sultanas, then fold in the flour and baking powder until they disappear, but don't overmix.

4. Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for 50min until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

5. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar ( don't overbeat as this can make the mixture too soft), then chill.

6. Spread over the cooled cake, scatter with zest and chill until ready to serve. Will keep for a week in the fridge.