ARE YOU a fan of Gin and Tonic?

Combine it with another guilty pleasure and what could be better than your favourite tipple in cake form?

Yes, you heard it right, this is not ‘’Fake News’’ – it’s a gin lover’s dream cake which certainly packs a punch for a grown-up summer activity.

The UK is officially obsessed with gin. I read you can now buy gin-flavoured cheese, G&T scones, and gin and tonic tea bags to name but a few. So why not cake?

To celebrate National Gin Day the weekend of June 8 I have an intoxicated cake recipe.

It’s a little beauty, sloshed in gin, and she can certainly hold her drink, take my word for it. Bake ‘er up and they’ll be ‘rum to your baba’ before you even be-gin to get the ice out of the freezer!

The flavour of the gin works so well, cutting straight through the richness of the sponge, that it will leave you feeling replenished at gin o’ clock, and a little less hung over.

But obviously don’t eat to excess: have a small slice, don’t give any to the children, and it’s quite acceptable to gin and bear it at elevenses!

Before you all go out to drink gin and make cake, did you know gin is made from a number of different botanicals? Predominantly juniper berries, but also coriander, citrus peel, cinnamon, almond or liqueur, being fermented with grain.

Gordon’s, the UK’s most popular gin, said choosing a cheap tonic water could ruin the taste of the gin as a lot of time, passion and effort goes into making good gin.

Legally, gin has to have a ‘predominant juniper flavour’ but there’s is no limit on how many other botanicals can be used, or how many juniper berries have to be added.

These are nearly all picked wild and rarely taken cultivated sources, but they are not actually berries at all. Rather, they are a type of seed cone.

The best way to taste gin is at room temperature diluted with equal measure of water. People reportedly drank tonic water before they drank gin, and later added gin to mask the taste.

British soldiers stationed in India drank lots of tonic water because it contained quinine, which was used to help fight off malaria parasite.

Many believe this is how the gin & tonic was invented, however today most tonics don’t have as much quinine.

How do you enjoy your G&T? Shaken but sliced?

Silly question!

G&T loaf cake recipe

Ingredients

200g/7oz butter

200g/7oz caster sugar

4 medium eggs, beaten

200g/7oz self-raising flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 lemon zest, save the left-over juice for the optional icing

75ml/3 fl oz gin

Drizzle

75g caster sugar

5 tablespoons gin

5 tablespoons tonic water

Gin icing topping

150g/5oz icing sugar, sifted

3 tablespoons gin (yes more gin) or use the remaining lemon juice to make a runny icing.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c /Gas Mark 4, and lightly butter and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.

4. Fold in the flour, baking powder and lemon zest, followed by the gin.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

7. Make the drizzle by gently dissolving the sugar and gin and tonic over a low heat, then bring to the boil for one minute.

8. As soon as the loaf comes out of the oven, poke holes into the top with a skewer or cocktail stick and drizzle over the gin syrup.

9. Once the cake has cooled in the tin, remove and peel away the parchment paper.

10. Make the gin icing and pour over letting it dribble down the sides, then decorate with a few sliced lemons or limes.