Monday 16 November 2015

HOW TO:
BAKE A GIN & TONIC CAKE

A few weeks ago, my lovely friend Lucy had a gin-themed birthday party. Joshua & I turned the flat into a gin lounge with personalised cocktail menus, a very well-stocked bar, and candles everywhere, and I made a very boozy, very lovely gin and tonic birthday cake.

I've wanted to make a gin and tonic cake for AGES, after spotting this cupcake recipe on Katie Cakes, so I tweaked the recipe a little (and added considerably more gin!). It turned into a light, fluffy and zesty cake that was perfect for the party.


You will need...

Cake:
  • 175g unsalted butter
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons of tonic water
  • 2 tablespoons of gin (I used a 50ml miniature of Edinburgh Gin)

Start by preheating your oven to 170 degrees C, and line your cake tins - I used two 9 inch tins with parchment paper, greased with butter (there is nothing more annoying than trying to get a cake out of a pan, so I always over-grease!).

Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl until it's light and creamy. Then add the eggs, mixing them in one at a time. Add in the flour and baking powder, stir it into the mixture, and then mix in the tonic water and vanilla essence. Add the mixture to your cake tins, put them in the oven and then LEAVE THE OVEN ALONE for at least 30 minutes. My cakes took about 45 minutes to bake, but I was using a slightly old oven, so yours might be quicker - just remember that if you open the oven door too early, you'll risk flattening your poor rising cake. It's better to leave it for slightly too long, than have it collapse on you!

Once the cake is golden, and a skewer comes out clean, remove from the tins and place on a cooling rack. While tit's still hot, pierce all over the sponge with a skewer, and brush gin all over the cake.

Icing & filling:
  • 500g icing sugar
  • 250g butter 
  • 100g lemon curd
  • The rest of your little bottle of gin
  • Zest of 1 lime

For the icing, mix icing sugar and butter until it's smooth and fluffy. Add in four tablespoons of gin and a squeeze of lime and whisk again. For the filling, mix lemon curd with the whatever gin you have left.

Then put your two sponges together with a layer of icing and lemon curd between them, add icing on top, and decorate with lime zest, lemon peel, and a few copper sprinkles. Enjoy!

2 comments :

  1. Definitely saving this one for the weekend what a lovely idea for gin and cake lovers. Can't wait to give this a go and your decoration is spot on!

    Hannah | Granite City Girl x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh! That cake looks incredible, so scrummy x

    holljc.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete

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