It's a Gin Thing
It's no secret that I like gin...and since no self respecting maternity leave exists without cake, it was inevitable that the two were going to collide at some point. Today was the day.
Well, actually that's a bit of a fib. I made the cake last night and added the finishing touches this morning - along with eating a slice for breakfast. No judgement please (it was all in the name of 'testing.') It was so sweet that I feared my teeth were going to be dropping out by lunchtime, but by the time lunch time actually came around, the drizzle had soaked into the cake a bit more and it was more than acceptable.
Ingredients
The Cake
200g butter, softened
200g golden caster sugar
200g self raising flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 lime
4 medium eggs
3 shots (or 75ml) of your favourite gin
The Drizzle
125g caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
125ml tonic water
3 tbsp gin
Juice of 1 lemon (use the lemon you zested earlier)
1 lime sliced thinly into half moons (again, use the lime you zested earlier to save waste
100g icing sugar, sifted
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan). Grease and line a large loaf tin with baking parchment. Then, in a large bowl beat butter, sugar and zests until light and fluffy – about 5min with a handheld electric whisk.
Add one of the eggs, and beat well. Fold in a quarter of the flour, followed by another egg and so on. Finally fold in the baking powder, followed by the gin.
Spoon into the prepared tin and level the top. Bake for approx 55min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the gin syrup: gently heat and stir the caster sugar and tonic water together in a small pan, until the sugar dissolves. Turn up heat and boil for a minute, before spooning 2tbsp into a small bowl and mixing with 2tbsp of the gin.
Add the lime slices to the remaining syrup and coat before removing from the pan and sprinkling with the caster sugar.
When the cake comes out of the oven, prick the surface and pour over the syrup, before topping with the lime slices. Leave to cool in the tin.
Make icing by mixing together icing sugar with remaining gin. Remove cooled loaf from tin, transfer to a board and peel off paper. Drizzle over icing before eating a slice for breakfast (optional.)
