This weeks cocktail cupcake is inspired by a Great British favourite: gin and tonic!
After a tiring week at work, an ice-cold gin and tonic is a firm favourite in the Sharkett household. The drink is something that marks the start of a weekend to us, but these cupcakes can be eaten everyday of the week. In fact, it is recommended.
You can use any gin you have available for this, or just your favourite gin! We decided to use Bombay Sapphire as it is one of our favourites!
Inspired by the gin and tonic, we came up with a lime and tonic cake, brushed with gin and topped with a lime and gin buttercream decorated with a slice of lime.
The cakes come out beautifully light and spongey (maybe something to do with the tonic) and they taste absolutely delightful.
Ingredients;
For the cupcakes…
6oz butter
6oz caster sugar
6oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
3tbsp tonic
zest and juice of 1 lime
For brushing on the cupcakes…
2 tbsp gin
For the buttercream…
4oz butter
12oz icing sugar
2 tbsp gin
zest of 1 lime
To decorate…
lime slices
Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas mark 6 and fill your cupcake tray with 12 cupcake cases.
Beat together the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs, vanilla and baking powder and combine. Next, fold in the self-raising flour until you have a smooth batter. Finally, stir in the tonic, lime zest and lime juice.
Now, take the batter and fill your cupcake cases, we managed to get 12 out of ours which is weird because we made more batter than usual but you will get a different amount depending on the size of your cases! Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
While the cupcakes are still warm, take a cocktail stick and pierce the cakes around 5 times and then brush liberally with gin. Don’t be afraid to be generous with the gin, they can take more than you think.
To make the buttercream, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the icing sugar until combined. Now, you can add the lime zest and the gin. We put in approx. 2 tbsp of gin but taste it as you go along and you can always add more, making sure to add more icing sugar too to prevent the buttercream from being to runny.
Take a piping bag with a star nozzle and spoon in your buttercream. Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes starting from the outside and swirling towards the centre.
You can decorate the cupcakes however you would like; we went for a slice of lime and a straw. We thought this looked really cute and the straw hints towards the gin and tonic inspiration. They are now ready to be enjoyed with a ice-cold glass of gin and tonic.
Thank you so much for reading this post, we hope you’re enjoying our cocktail cupcakes!
Any comments would be very much appreciated!
What cocktails would you like us to try and transform into a cupcake?
Please follow us on Bloglovin’ and Instagram, and head over to our Facebook page ‘Sharkett Sisters’ and give it a like!
See you soon with the next amazing cocktail cupcake,
Love, Antonia and Imogen x
