Mme Hamlet's Courgette Tart

On the subject of courgettes, here's a lovely gluten and dairy-free recipe from local blogger Pig in The Kitchen:
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Tamsin’s Courgette Muffins

These lovely muffins came first in the Baking Brilliance Category.

Tamsin says "These are so moist and easy to make that you can’t go wrong!"

Cake:
60g raisins (optional)
250g courgette (2-3) weigh them before grating
2 eggs
125ml / 4fl oz vegetable oil
150g caster sugar (I use golden)
225g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

Icing:
Small (250g) pot mascarpone cheese
125g icing sugar
Juice of 1-2 lemons or limes (to taste, depends how juicy they are)

Deep “American” muffin tins
Greaseproof paper

Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (180C)

First prepare your tins by cutting some greaseproof paper into squares approx 15x15cm. Size really depends on the size of your muffin tin; it works best if the paper is roughly 4 times the diameter of each hole. Lay aside until needed a bit later.

Put the raisins into a small bowl and pour over enough just boiled water to cover them. Leave to plump up whilst you get on with the rest of the cake.

Grate the courgettes (don’t peel them, the skin gives a fantastic colour once baked) Its best to do this by hand using the rough setting on a normal box grater rather than a food processor (mushy results), then pop them into a colander and allow to stand in order for excess water to drain off.

Weigh out the flour. Spoon in the baking powder and bicarb and stir to evenly distribute.

Put the eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy (I prefer to mix by hand but sometimes do this bit with an electric whisk). Spoon in the flour and mix until combined. Then stir in the grated courgettes and drained raisins (best to do this delicate stage by hand)

Now for the only tricky part, but don’t worry if it gets a bit messy, they’ll come looking fantastically homemade. Shove a greaseproof square into a muffin tin hole by pressing the centre of the paper. Press down to form a basic muffin paper case. The paper will buckle up around the top (I like the rustic look!) Spoon a generous dessertspoon-full into each case. Bake for 20-30 mins until golden brown, firm to the touch and smelling yummy. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire tray.

For the icing:
Beat the mascarpone with the icing sugar until smooth. Add lemon juice to taste. Spoon the icing over the muffins once cooled.

This recipe also works really well as a layer cake. Use 2 x 21cm sandwich tins and spread the icing in between layers and on top