I based my recipe on this great one by Mean Miss Mustard, adding more liquid and of course replacing the flour.
You will need
225g butter
345g golden caster sugar
225g Doves Farm Gluten-Free Self Raising White Flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 lemons
1 lime
4 eggs
Gin (if you are like me you will already this have in stock)
1 can or small bottle of tonic water
1 2lb loaf tin
baking paper or loaf tin liner
Food mixer or electric whisk (unless you have really strong arm muscles in which case you need a large bowl and a wooden spoon!)
Measuring jug
Set of measuring spoons
Metal skewer
CAKE
Take the butter from the fridge and allow to soften.
Turn the oven on to preheat it to 190C (170C fan oven, 375F, gas mark 5)
Line the loaf tin
Zest and juice the lemons and lime, and put the juice to one side
Weight out 225g and 120g of sugar, and place the 120g to the side with the citrus juice
Cut the softened butter into chunks
Add the butter, 225g sugar and the citrus zests into the food mixer/mixing bowl
Sift in the flour and the baking powder.
Break and add all four eggs.
Beat the ingredients together until thick and smooth – this should take around 3 minutes if using a mixer or electric whisk or a muscle aching ten minutes if using a wooden spoon.
Check that your largest measuring spoon is a tablespoon (sometimes they are just two teaspoon sized. A tablespoon actually equates to three teaspoons, it would be a crime to not add enough gin!)
Add in 4 tablespoons of gin and one tablespoon of tonic, one at a time, to the mix, beating it in very fast to ensure that the mixture does not curdle.
Pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin, pushing it into all the corners and making it as level as possible.
Bake for 45 minutes until the cake has risen and is golden brown.
Check the middle of the cake with the skewer. If the skewer does not come out clean, cook for another five minutes. Repeat until the cake is cooked, but still moist.
DRIZZLE
While cake is in the oven, add the citrus juices and sugar into the jug. Add in four tablespoons of gin and one of tonic and stir often to help the sugar dissolve.
As soon as cake is taken out of the oven, use the skewer or another fine point to prick the cake all over to create holes, and then pour the drizzle evenly over the cake, letting it run into all the holes, but not over the edge of the tin.
Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely.
If you are not eating it straight away, wrap it tightly in cling film to retain its moisture.
Feel free to decorate with extra caster sugar, citrus zest or slices or whatever else takes your fancy.
The last time I made this cake it was still delicious and moist three days later, but it doesn’t normally last that long!
So why a cake recipe on a voiceover’s website?
Well, at VOX 2013 I turned up at the bar at 2am with a large homemade Guinness Cake, which went down a total storm (and became something of a legend at breakfast for those who had not made it that late into the night).
Fast forward two years and with VOX 2015 looming on the horizon came pleading tweets asking me if I was bringing another cake. I felt I needed to up the ante this time, and also cater for the fact that in the intervening time I have gone gluten-free. A wheat free Guinness Cake still contains gluten (as Guinness contains gluten), and I haven’t yet found a good gluten free stout. So I decided to also try a gluten-free version of a recipe I have been eyeing up for a while, Miss Mustard’s Mothers Ruin Gin and Tonic Cake. (Now I know there is some debate on whether Gin can be considered gluten free, but I have decided it can!).
During VOX 2015’s more official conference proceedings 2am became christened “cake o’clock” by a couple of the other Voiceovers, determined to last out until the cake arrived. I duly appeared at the hotel bar at the appointed hour bearing three cakes, which were instantly descended upon! People were totally gobsmacked that the GF version was indeed gluten-free, as it tasted so good.
