My Gin and Lime Drizzle Cake is a lovely and very grown up cake to have with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or even better with a G&T!
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I was recently sent a gin subscription box and with it came the challenge to use one of the gins in a baking recipe. This recipe immediately sprang to mind because I’ve been baking lemon drizzles cakes for years and they always go down well. There are probably hundreds of recipes in books and on the web, mine is based on the one in Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess* .
My Gin and Lime Drizzle Cake is a simple sponge loaf soaked in a sharp and sweet sugar syrup. It’s a really easy cake to make, the hardest part is letting it go completely cold before you take it out of the tin!
In this version I have added a splash of gin into the syrup. Feel free to use whichever is your favourite gin, but I think that it’s best with one that is fairly heavy on the juniper. I used the Bath Gin from the subscription box that I received.
I used lime zest and juice, in a nod to the Gin & Lime that I used to serve up when I worked in a village pub. But it occurred to me afterwards that pink grapefruit would probably be a good substitute as well. This is a lovely and very grown up cake to have with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or even better with a G&T!
Gin & Lime Drizzle Cake (8 slices)
125g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of one lime
Pinch of salt
175g self-raising flour
4 tablespoons milk
Juice of 1 and 1/2 limes
30ml gin
100g icing sugar
Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line a 1lb/450g loaf tin, I like the loaf tin liners from Lakeland for speed and ease.
Cream together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. I use an electric hand mixer but you can use a wooden spoon – it will just take longer. Add the lime zest and then add the eggs one at a time, beating in well after each addition. If the mix looks like it is going to split, stir in a spoonful of flour.
Sift together the salt and flour. Then use a metal spoon to fold them gently but thoroughly into the mix. Add the milk and mix in, the mix should drop from your spoon if you tap it on the side of the bowl.
Spoon into the lined tin, and bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes, or until risen and golden in the middle. A cake-tester will come out clean, you may find that your cake needs a few minutes more.
About 5 minutes before your cake is due to come out of the oven, mix together the sugar, gin and lime juice in a small saucepan. Heat gently (don’t boil off the alcohol!) until the sugar has dissolved.
When the cake comes out of the oven, pierce all over the top with the cake-tester and then spoon over the syrup. Try to make sure you cover the middle of the cake as well as the edges.
Leave the cake to cool completely in its tin on a cooling rack. Don’t try to take out of the tin til it is entirely cold, or it will break up.
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