Gin and tonic cake

Yes…you heard it right…Your favourite cocktail in a cake. Do I need to say more?

We are having miserable weather here in New Zealand…rain, cold, wind.. However I cannot complain, because my orange trees are going crazy with fruit! Here is my harvest from this morning:

It’s about 13kgs…so my workout for the day included carrying this basket back into the house from the garden (I managed to break the handle as you can see)

But whoah! That is a lot of oranges! So expect a lot of orange recipes from me in the near future 😀

But let’s get back to this boozy deliciousness…

This cake is super moist, fluffy and packed with citrus flavours. I know that the usual Gin and Tonic cocktail has lemon in it, so feel free to use the lemon in this cake instead of the orange, however, as I mentioned above, I just picked enough oranges to last me through an apocalypse, so I decided that citrus is citrus…and oranges taste better than lemons anyway 😀

Don’t worry, you won’t be dancing on the table after having this cake. The alcohol from the gin will evaporate with cooking, but it will make your cake super fluffy.

Serve this cake with some low-fat Greek yoghurt and orange syrup. Yum.

Ingredients:

• 200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 300g plain flour
• 75g plain Greek yoghurt
• 3 tbsp gin
• 3 oranges (or lemons), zested (you’ll use the juice in the syrup)

Syrup

• 5 oranges, juiced (this includes the zested oranges from above) plus 2 small oranges, sliced, end slices discarded
• 125g caster sugar
• 6 tbsp tonic water
• 2 tbsp gin

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 160C. Line and grease a cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the yogurt, then tip in the flour but fold in with a metal spoon. Finally fold in the gin and lemon zest.

Spoon the mix into the tin and bake for 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes until risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Check it out:

This is what it should look like when you peel off the baking paper. Happy days!

Meanwhile, make the syrup by combining the orange juice, sugar and tonic water in a wide pan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then drop in the orange slices and bubble for a few minutes, until the syrup thickens slightly. Don’t go overboard, or you will end up with a jelly marmalade.

Take off the heat, stir in the gin, and leave to cool.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out upside down onto a serving plate and poke a few holes over the base.Spoon over about half of the syrup to soak in.

To serve, spoon the rest of the syrup and lemon slices over the cake, letting some soak in before adding more. Then serve the cake cut into thin slices with spoonfuls yoghurt on the side.

Asian broth with zoodles, bok choy and shiitake mushrooms

This is a super healthy soup packed with heaps of flavour. While I love my noodles, it’s good to take a break from the carbs. I am using zucchini noodles, or zoodles to replicate the traditional noodle soup. This is a vegan, gluten free recipe, but feel free to use shredded chicken and egg noodles, if that’s what you are craving.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2tbsp olive oil
• 1bsp sesame oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 2cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
• 1tsp Five Spice mix
• 4 cups of boiling water
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lime
• 2 large zucchinis, grated into zoodles (you can use a special grater for that)
• 2 bok choy, leaves separated and washed
• 1 handful of shiitake mushrooms (if you are using dry mushrooms, soak them in boiling water for at least 30 minutes first)
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped to serve

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium to high heat. Add the onion and fry until golden. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli, fry for further 2 minutes. Add the five spice mix. Stir.

Once the spices are awake (you’ll be able to smell it), add the boiling water. Now add the soy sauce and the vegetables. This will literally take second to cook. Add the lime (you can grate in the zest if you want more flavour). Taste if it needs more seasoning. Add the spring onions.

Divide into bowls and sprinkle with coriander. Serve immediately.