Gin And Tonic Icing Drizzled Over Cake, Anyone?

Trine Jensen-Burke

We love a good G&T recipe over here at HerFamily HQ (in case you hadn’t guessed?!)

I mean, we have by now tried to use our favourite summer tipple to make both cupcakes and ice lollies – with great results.

This week, however, we are hell bent on finding an occasion to make this oh-so-yummy-looking cake, topped with – you guessed it – Gin and Tonic icing. (Is Tuesday occasion enough, do you think?!)

Ingredients

275g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
3 tbsp milk
15 juniper berries, crushed
275g caster sugar
4 large eggs
zest of 2 limes, plus zest of ½ lime to decorate
275g self-raising flour

For the syrup

150ml gin
150ml tonic water
100g caster sugar
15 juniper berries, crushed

For the glaze

150g icing sugar
2 tbsp gin

Step-by-step directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease a 20cm-diameter nonstick bundt tin (approximately 2-litre capacity) with butter.
For the cake, heat the milk with the juniper berries in a small saucepan over a low heat until warm. Set aside. Beat the sugar and butter with an electric hand whisk until very light and fluffy, scraping down the sides from time to time. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime zest and beat again.
Add the flour and continue to mix on a low speed until just combined. Strain the milk into the mixture, discarding the juniper berries, and beat once more until the milk is incorporated.
Spoon the mixture into the tin and gently smooth the surface with the back of the spoon. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden and risen and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, place all the ingredients for the syrup in a small saucepan and set over a low heat. Stir gently to dissolve the sugar, then increase the heat to high and simmer for 7-10 minutes, until reduced by about half. Strain the syrup through a sieve into a jug, discarding the crushed juniper berries.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke lots of holes into it with a skewer. Pour the warm syrup over the cake and let it soak in for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
To finish the cake, make the glaze by combining the icing sugar and gin. Put the cake on a serving plate or cake stand and pour the glaze over, sprinkle over the lime zest and leave to set, then serve.

Note: The iced cake will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

(Recipe via Sainsburymagazine.co.uk)