A Birthday cake laden with gin

Along with July comes Matt’s Sister’s Birthday. Rhi (Rhianna) is a foodie and much more of a baker than me. Baking is my weakest area for several reasons but mainly it falls down to my aversion to measuring. I like to gauge my ingredients by eye, tweaking and changing as I go along. The only time weighing scales ever come out when I’m cooking is if I’m testing a recipe to share with you or to check my portion sizes with things like rice if I’m cooking for more people than I’m used to.

But when your one day Sister-in-law is coming home for her Birthday and shares a cake recipe on Facebook a week before, the weighing scales come out. Ok, so the fact it’s a gin and tonic cake might have swayed me a little. I sent a quick ‘stand down’ text to Matt’s Nan and started to think about decorating it.

“I’ll just buy some candles and sprinkles”, I said, and that’s exactly what I did.

On the night Rhi came home, we went out for a family meal but skipped dessert to come home for Birthday cake. It went down really well, even with Grandad who by all accounts doesn’t like alcohol. The texture was comparable to a Madeira cake and the gin really sung through, especially in the top layers where the drizzle had formed a sugary crust. If you fancy trying it, I can highly recommend Pudding Lane’s Gin and Tonic cake recipe.