Gin and Tonic Cake

It was my mum's birthday the other week. Inspired by one of the cakes made by a contestant on the Great British Bake Off, I made her a gin and tonic cake.

The recipe I was following was advertised as a recipe for a gin and tonic cake. Unfortunately, despite me putting eight shots of gin in it, four in the cake and four in the syrup that I drizzled over it, the gin was indiscernible.

Mary Berry would not have been impressed. Luckily we'd bought some supermarket own-brand gin, so I didn't waste the Bombay Sapphire. We used that to make gin and tonics later.

Also the syrup didn't have the finish on it that I would expect. And I was in constant fear that the cake mix would curdle from the amount of extra liquid going into it. I had to add extra flour.

But the cake was beautifully moist, with the syrup oozing all the way through. So I have made a number of changes to the recipe, which will hopefully improve it.

Before I share the recipe, just a note about ingredients. All the cake ingredients should be at room temperature before you start. Otherwise the cake mix can curdle.

You will need:

For the cake:
4 eggs
250g self raising flour
250g softened butter
250g caster sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
a loaf tin, greased and the base lined with greaseproof paper
a cocktail stick or wooden skewer

For the syrup:
150g caster sugar
150ml gin
dash of tonic water
juice of 1 lemon

To finish:
125g icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cream together the butter and sugar for the cake until light and fluffy.

2. Make sure your flour is weighed and then add the eggs one by one. Add 1-2 tbsp of flour with each egg, this will stop the mixture from curdling.

3. Fold in the rest of the flour along with the lemon zest and juice.

4. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until a metal skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. If it's not done after 45 minutes, cover it in foil so it does not brown too much.

5. While the cake is baking, mix together the caster sugar, lemon juice, gin and tonic water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Take the cake out of the oven and put on a cooling rack, with something below it to catch drips.

6. Mark the cocktail stick about 2 inches up. While the cake is still warm, use the stick to pierce the cake all over with 2 inch deep holes, leaving about 2cm between holes. Reserve 2 tbsp of the syrup, and then pour it over the cake.

7. Beat the icing sugar into the last two 2tbsp of syrup and drizzle over the cake to finish. When the cake has cooled, eat it with a large G&T!

Happy Boozing!

Um, I mean, baking.

Ellie
xxx