The Gin Explorer Box: Gin & Tonic Cake

This recipe came about when the lovely people at Gin Explorer asked me to come up with something using the gins in their June edition of their subscription box (see the full post on the box here). I decided to do something simple and classic, recreating the gin & tonic everyone knows and loves. The cake is an easy Victoria Sponge recipe, but it's made extra sweet with extra vanilla to reflect the way tonic sweetens the kick of the gin. The buttercream is where the gin comes to life, adding that punch and the limes on top (and inside!) the cake really complete that gin & tonic flavour.

INGREDIENTS
For the cake:

12oz butter, softened
12oz caster sugar
6 eggs
4 tsp vanilla essence
12oz self raising flour
Zest of 2 limes

For the buttercream:

250g butter, softened
500g icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 shot Pinkster Gin (or your chosen gin)
1 shot Masons Yorkshire Gin (or your chosen gin)
1 tsp pink food colouring

For decoration:

1 lime, sliced to a medium thickness

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 160˚C (fan). Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating each one in fully every time. Add the vanilla essence, then the flour, mixing until fully combined. Add the zest of the limes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 5-10 minutes, then turn onto a wire cooling rack. The cake should be exceptionally sweet, referencing the tonic part of a gin & tonic!

To make the buttercream, cream together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. For the best results, use a mixer. Divide the mix into two bowls, putting a third in one and two thirds in the other. Add Pinkster Gin to the one third mixture and Mason's Gin to the other. Taste. If there isn't enough of a kick for you, add more gin until you're satisfied with the flavour.

Spread a generous layer of the Masons buttercream over the top of one cake. Place the second cake on top. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the Masons buttercream, reserving some, using an icing smoother or palette knife for a clean finish, resembling a naked cake. Put the rest of the Masons buttercream in a piping bag, and using Wilton basketweave nozzle (44), pipe a layered decoration around the edge of the top of the cake. Using another piping bag and the same nozzle, put two streaks of pink food colouring inside the piping bag, then add the Pinkster buttercream and pipe the same design. You should get a pink stripe or tinge to your buttercream, reflecting the Pinkster gin.

Slice the lime into circles. Cut from the middle to the edge on one side and then twist the two 'sides' of the lime away from each other two form a curl. Do this four times and then place on top of the cake for a decorative finish.

Cut, serve, eat and enjoy!