Who loves gin and tonic? I know I do!

Gin and Tonic Cupcakes!

I love gin and tonic. It is my default drink of choice when alcohol is required, and also a bit of a family tradition. When on holiday a couple of years ago with my grandparents, my grandfather frequently asked of an evening, if I wanted to join in with the gin merriments. So it is an inherited love and I have been wanting to put gin into cupcakes for a while now so here we go. My favourite gin is Tanqueray, so that is what I am going to use, but I assume any gin will create an equally yummy result.

Ingredients - this makes 12 regular sized cupcakes.

For the cakes:

175g self raising flour
25g plain flour
1 tsp of baking powder
175g caster sugar
175g butter (softened)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp tonic water
1 tbsp your favourite gin
Zest of 1 lime

For the icing:

75g soft butter
175g icing sugar
A good glug of gin, depending on how alcoholic you want the icing to taste.
Zest of a lime

Method:

Preheat you over to 180 degrees or 160 for a fan over. Prepare your cupcake tin ready for the mixture.

Place the flours and baking powder in a bowl and combine, then set aside.

In a bowl mix together the caster sugar and butter - I love my Kitchenaid so I mix in this. Once light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and make sure they are well combined. Add the dry mixture and continue to mix. Add in the tonic, gin and lime and keep mixing until all the batter looks even.

Divide the batter between the cupcake cups, and bake for around 25 minutes - test the cakes with a skewer to check they are done before removing from the oven.

Place to cool on a wire rack, and pierce the cakes several times. Brush over the cakes with some extra gin, to give it an extra kick.

When completely cool mix together the icing ingredients until fluffy - I like to pipe onto the cakes for a nice finish. Sprinkle with the zest of lime, then sit back and enjoy your hard work!

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