Yet another glut of marrows, they seem to be never ending!

These were supposed to be Courgettes, but since we went away for a week I’ve come back to some serious monsters.

Its huge! 

Now what to do with them?

We tried a bit of the old roasted marrow, but it’s not particularly flavourful and MrT got all cheffy on me about it. So while he went off to work in his baking hot commercial kitchen, I pottered about my own little ‘Heart of the Home’ and came up with this spiced marrow loaf to get rid of the glut.

Four cakes from one big marrow!

It freezes really well and is great with an afternoon tea in the sunshine or as a quick sweet treat. It a lot lighter than you’d think it would be and is super easy to make, just mixing and baking.

They also make great gifts wrapped up in paper and with a nice ribbon, but that far too pretty for me and my parchment and string did the job!

Wrapped up, although not for long!

Ingredients;

2 hen’s or duck’s eggs (mine came from my ex-batt girls, so super fresh)
200g of caster sugar
100g of softened butter or “baking spread”
3-4 drops of vanilla extract
300g of marrow, well grated skin and all
300g of self-raising flour
1tsp of baking powder
1tsp of cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger, whichever you fancy (I use cinnamon)

How To;

Grease your loaf tin and add in a rectangle of baking paper in the bottom, overhanging the sides to make your loaf easier to lift out.
Heat your oven to 180°, or 160°fan.
Mix together the butter and sugar until it is light and creamy.
Add the eggs, vanilla and marrow and mix well until combined.
Add the baking powder and spice to the flour and combine.
Gradually stir this into the wet ingredients, being careful to work it as little as possible. It should look like a dough.
Plonk this into your greased and lined tin.
Bake for about an hour, but keep an eye on it after 50 minutes. It should be golden brown and a skewer/knife should come out clean.
Let it cool down in the tin a little bit, until it pulls away from the sides.
Use the paper tabs to lift it carefully out of the tin.

Let it cool fully and enjoy!

These cakes are a great way to use up courgettes and marrows, and they can be frozen after cooling. Simply bring it out a few hours before you need it and let its thaw thoroughly before enjoying.

You can also add other ingredients; nuts, raisins, sultanas, all work great in this loaf!

We like to eat it with a good spoonful of my Marrow Jam, and a nice cuppa. It store really well too so you can easily wrap it up and take it down to the allotment again.

Perfect for a sunny afternoon.