Office Bake Off: Gin & Tonic Cake

Posted by Sarah Belizaire-Butler on 23 July 2012 | 2 Comments

We love our food here at Three Sixty and so have decided to start sharing our love of sweet things too with a weekly bake off. Every week a member of team Three Sixty will lovingly prepare some yummy elevenses to make the office smile on a Monday.

It was my honour to kick off proceedings, so I just needed to think of the right cake to prepare.

I am a drinks geek so any cake needed to include that vital drop of liquor – despite us eating it before lunch on a Monday! I looked through my stash of spirits at home thinking what I could create, I was disappointed to find Madeira cake doesn’t actually need Madeira, when looking at my bottle of Tanqueray I had a brain wave. Gin & Tonic cake!

I was first introduced to the joy by the lovely GinMonkeyUK who brought a homemade Gin & Tonic cake to the Juniper Society one time – using several different types of gin for each segment. She’s even reduced the tonic to create a beautiful tonic cream for the cake.

I am not that skilled, so haven’t got that fancy but after borrowing liberally by Sweet Eats, Katie's Cakes and I played and played until I created the Gin & Tonic cake I’d been craving. I don’t have a beautiful KitchenAid so did all the mixing either by hand, using a hand blender and when I needed to a smoothie maker/blender.

I chose Tanqueray for the gin and Fever Tree for the tonic. In my book to really capture the gin flavour in cake form, you need a Juniper heavy gin and Tanqueray fits the bill, and Fever Tree, well it’s the best tonic out there. I don’t subscribe to the view to cook with low quality spirits, cooking spirits if you will, I don’t like cooking with anything I’m not comfortable drinking neat.

This cake is yummy and moist and with a nice gin twang for gin fans. Enjoy!

Gin & Tonic cake recipe

Cake:

250g of self raising flour

2 tsp of baking powder

¼ tsp salt

250g of unsalted butter

250g of caster sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Freshly zested rind of 2 limes

100ml Tanqueray gin

100ml Fever Tree tonic

Juice of 1 lime

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 C. Mix flour, baking powder, salt together in a bowl and set aside

2. Beat butter until creamy, add in sugar and beat rigorously until fluffy

3. Add in an egg one at a time and beat until fully integrated into the mix

4. Add in vanilla essence and lime zest

5. If you are using a mixer, place on a low speed and add in half of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt mix)

6. Next add in the gin, tonic and lime juice and mix until combined

7. Add in the remaining flour and beat until just combined

8. Pour into a greased cake dish, I used a 25cm round cake tin, and bake for 35 minutes until the top is golden and centre is firm

9. Remove cake from oven and pierce holes over the top with a small knife or toothpick

10. Pour gin glaze over the cake, while it is still warm, and let the cake cool completely

11. While the cake is cooling mix up the icing and once cool, go ice

12. Decorate with candied limes

Gin Glaze:

250g icing sugar

5 tbsp Tanqueray gin

The juice of 1 lime

Method:

Mix ingredients together until a glaze forms, the pour over the cake while it is still warm

 

Gin icing (this is seriously amazing!):

500g icing sugar

5 tbsp Tanqueray gin

2 tbsp Fever Tree Tonic

A drop of vanilla extract

Method:

Mix ingredients together until a thick spreadable icing forms

Candied limes:

2 limes

Cup of water

Cup of granulated sugar

3 tsp caster sugar

Method:

1. Slice limes to create thin circles, blanch in water for 2 minutes, drain from water in a colander

2. Place a pan containing a cup of water and granulated sugar onto a medium-low heat and return limes to the pan and simmer for 10-15 minutes

3. Drain lime slices for an hour and then press each side of the lime into a plate of caster sugar and affix to the cake as desired