Courgette, Walnut and Cinnamon Layer Cake

The sun has officially disappeared and winter is approaching, fast. 

All this depressing weather calls for one thing only - comfort food. With this in mind, I figured that this cake would be the ultimate cure for my summertime sadness. 

At the beginning of the year my friend Beanie set herself the a challenge - to bake the entire Hummingbird Bakery 'Cake Days' recipe book. With 110 recipes and 52 weeks in a year, it is quite a task but you can't exactly complain when you're baking cakes as good as this one... 

You will need:

For the sponge:

- 3 large eggs

- 300ml sunflower oil

- 300g soft light brown sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

- 300g plain flour

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- 2 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

- 300g peeled and grated courgettes

- 100g walnuts, roughly chopped (plus extra halves to decorate)

For the frosting:

- 160g unsalted butter, softened 

- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

- 500g icing sugar

- 50g plain Greek yoghurt

(We reduced the quantities for the frosting as the original recipe makes quite a lot)

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and line three 20cm diameter loose-bottomed sandwich tins with baking parchment.

Mix together the eggs, sunflower oil, sugar and vanilla essence until the are all combined.

Sift together the flour, baking power, bicarbonate of soda and the ground spices. Gradually add this to the wet mixture, beating well. 

Lastly, add the courgettes and chopped walnuts to the batter, mixing them in thoroughly.The courgettes are definitely the secret ingredient to this cake, they add great moisture, texture and colour. 

Divide the cake batter evenly between the three prepared cake tins and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. 

 Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cakes are cooling, you can make the frosting. Mix together the butter, cinnamon and icing sugar. Add the yoghurt and mix on a low speed until all the ingredients are combined then increase the speed and beat until the icing is light and fluffy.

Once fully cooled, spread the frosting on each layer sandwiching the three cakes together. Use the remaining icing for the top and sides of the cake. 

To finish, dust with cinnamon and decorate with walnut halves. 

Follow Beanie's bakes and the rest of her baking challenge on http://beaniesbakes.blogspot.co.uk

Enjoy!