This gorgeous Gin and Lemon Traybake is easy to make. Works well for gifts, parties and lunch boxes. A glass of gin and tonic and cake combined.
5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 20 minutesmins
Cook Time 45 minutesmins
Lemon Curd Time 15 minutesmins
Total Time 1 hourhr20 minutesmins
Course Bakes, Cakes, Sweet Treats
Cuisine British, English
Servings 16pieces
Calories 345kcal
Ingredients
Cake
300gramsunsalted butter
300gramsgolden caster sugar
4 large eggs
300gramsself-raising flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
3lemons
3-4tablespoonsmilk
Gin and tonic centres
50mlWhitley gin
1tablespoonlemon curd
25mltonic water
Butter Cream
300gramsunsalted butter
700gramsicing sugar / confectioners sugar
2 tablespoonsmilk
purple colour paste
Instructions
Cake
Grease and line a 9 x 12 inch cake tin with grease proof paper.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160º fan.
Cream together the butter and sugar. You can do this entirely in a mixer or by hand.
Add the eggs one at a time.
Sieve in the flour and baking powder and mix together.
Zest the two lemons and mix it into the cake mix along with the juice from 1 lemon.
Spoon the cake into the tin and bake for about 45 minutes - 1 hour., until golden brown and when a cake tester comes out it's done. Leave to cool for 30mins and then remove from the tin and place on a wire wrack.
Gin and Lemon Centres
Add the gin, tonic and lemon curd into a saucepan and on a low heat mix together until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready (it should still be warm).
When the cake is cold divide up in to squares.
Using a metal nozzle of a knife carefully cut a 1 cm hold in the centre of each cake and move the hole piece and keep it to the side.
Spoon the gin and lemon curd mix into the holes almost up to the top and pop the cake top pieces back in.
Buttercream
In a stand mixer beat the butter gradually adding the icing sugar and the milk until light and fluffy and well incorporated.
If you want beautifully white buttercream add a tiny amount of purple food colouring paste. The purple will neutralise the yellow tint of the buttercream. Be careful to add a tiny amount at a time otherwise it will go purple.
Depending on how you want to decorate the finished cakes choose a different nozzle. I added dried lemon slices to the cakes so I used a large round nozzle to a pipping bag and fill it up with the buttercream.
Pipe a blob or beautiful swirl of buttercream on the cakes and decorate. I used fresh lemon slices but sprinkles work so well too!
Notes
If you want to use dried lemon slices as decoration cut thin slices of lemon and bake on a lined baking tray in a warm oven (about 160 degrees) for 3-4 hours. Flip them over every half an hour to make sure they dry out evenly.
Nutrition
Calories: 345kcal
Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
I would love to hear what you thought about this recipe. Please leave a comment on the blog post.