i love me a good g&t, and some years ago, i made a gin & tonic sorbet. of late, i've been trying to make the perfect gin & tonic cake. naturally, to do so, i turned to pinterest. and i looked at this recipe, and this one (which is more or less the recipe i made the first go i had at it), and this one and also this one. but that first attempt was a bit dry and a bit too heavy, so when it came time to try again, i mixed them all up in my head and made this one, and it was good (i think the baking powder helped):
the cake
1 C (250 grams) butter
1 C (fill up a 250ml measuring cup if you're doing metric) granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 C (fill that 250ml cup twice) cake flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C gin
2 T finely-chopped rosemary
2 T finely-chopped lemon zest (juice the lemon(s) and reserve the lemon juice)
cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs and then add the dry ingredients, adding the gin after the first cup of flour and adding the rosemary and lemon zest at the end.
bake in a loaf pan at 350°C/180°F for approx 40 minutes until done.
while it's baking, make the syrup to pour over it:
the syrup
1/2 C gin
1/2 C tonic
1/2 C sugar
3-4 juniper berries
a sprig of fresh rosemary
bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then turn it off and let it cool/steep until your cake is done. let the cake cool for about 15 minutes. take a chopstick or maybe even a small-gauge knitting needle and poke holes all over the cake, taking care to reach all the way to the bottom. then carefully pour the syrup over the entire cake. let the cake cool all the way before frosting.
the frosting
1 C powdered sugar
2 T lemon juice
zest of one lemon
mix together. if the frosting isn't the consistency you desire, add a splash of gin. spread it over the cake and decorate with slides of lemon or lime and a sprig or two of rosemary and enjoy!
