Gin and Tonic Loaf Cake

What do you give friends who are responsible for your love of G & T's? 
Well this boozy moist Gin and Tonic Loaf Cake of course!

Loaf Cake:
1 cup butter
1 cup fine sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1  1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 lime
3 oz gin

Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
2 oz tonic water
2 tbsps gin

Icing:
1  1/2 tbsps gin
3/4 cup icing sugar

Garnish:
1 lime to candy

For the cake:

Using the whisk attachment, whip the butter and fine sugar together until fluffy, 4-5 minutes. If you don't have fine sugar then just blend or process 1 cup white sugar until fine.

Add eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and lime zest together and add to butter mixture. Finally add the gin. The batter had an odd frothy/curdly texture to it at this point. I guess it was ok, just mentioning it here in case you think there's something wrong.

Line loaf pan with parchment paper and pour batter in. Makes 1 regular loaf pan 9 X 5 X 3". I used an 8 X 4 X 3" pan AND a mini 6 X 3 X 2" pan here as I wanted a tester before gifting it.

Bake at 325F
40 minutes for 6 X 3, 55 minutes for 8 X 4 and 55-60 minutes for the regular 9 X 5 pan.

Syrup:

While the loaf or loaves are baking prepare the syrup. Heat the sugar and tonic water together to melt the sugar. Remove from heat and add the gin.

The loaf is ready when a cake tester comes out clean. Use that cake tester to poke holes in the loaf. Reserve 2-3 tbsps of syrup for the candied lime, then pour the remaining syrup over top of the cake. Leave the loaf in the pan on a rack to cool completely.

Candied lime:

To make the candied lime slices, cut the lime into 1/8" slices. My slices were not cut well as you can see. Cut them in half and place in a saucepan with the reserved syrup and boil for 10-12 minutes until translucent. Remove onto a sheet of parchment paper and coat completely with sugar. Leave to dry.

Once loaf is cooled, remove from pan and peel off the parchment paper.

Icing:

Mix the icing sugar and gin together and drizzle over the top of the loaf. Place the candied lime slices on top and let set completely.

Next time I'll work on my candied lime slices.

Adapted from: http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/food/recipes/gin-and-tonic-loaf