The Teasmith premium gin inspires tea cake

Gin continues to have a moment and at Edinburgh Foody, we continue to enjoy it. Teasmith is a Scottish premium gin with a twist. They asked us if we wanted to try it and maybe cook something with it. We said yes!

Earl Grey cake with Teasmith gin icing. A very adult cake.

Earl Grey cake with Teasmith gin icing. A very adult cake.


As the name hints, tea is one of the central botanicals. It blends with juniper, orange peel, licorace root and grains of paradise (which I was excited to see on GBBO last week) to create a gin with “clarity, simplicity and confidence”.

When the sample arrived on my desk I was very excited. Inside a small box were two exquisite small bottles. Not quite enough to experiment with but enough to have one good taste and to…hm, make what? Inspred by a crisp G&T, I decided on cake. REcipe below. I’m afraid there wasn’t enough gin for the rest of the team: one drink and one iced cake and I was out. Sorry, friends! If it’s any comfort, I really enjoyed Teasmith.

Elegant in small as well as large: Teasmith.

Elegant in small as well as large: Teasmith.

On its own, Teasmith has slight sweetness and a clear, citrussy flavour with background juniper warmth. With tonic (I used Fevertree) it becomes a little deeper but stays clean and satisfying. Teasmith’s perfect serve is 1:4 gin and Fevertree decorated with a sprig of mint to enhance the cool hint the tea adds.

Gin-iced tea cake
 
Preparation time
Cooking time
Total time
 
I've reduced the oil and sugar in my standard vegan cake to get a lighter, slightly drier crumb with a hint of bergamot. The icing adds a refreshing gin hit. This works well with tea or G&T.
Author:
Recipe type: Cake
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 12
Ingredients
Cake
  • 1-2 teabags Earl Grey tea
  • 270 grams hot water
  • 350 grams plain flour
  • 225 grams caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp bicoarbonate of soda
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 40 grams syrup
  • 90 grams oil (almond or vegetable)
Icing
  • 30 ml Teasmith gin
  • 200 ml icing sugar
Instructions
Cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (200C if not fan).
  2. Boil the water and pour into a measuring jug.
  3. Steep the teabags in the water. The tea should be fairly strong but not so bitter that the bergamot flavour is lost.
  4. Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  5. Add the lemon juice to the water.
  6. Put the measuring jug on your scales and measure out syrup and oil.
  7. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir quickly until smooth.
  8. Pour into a cake tin (I used around 26 cm silicon one).
  9. Cook in oven for 35-45 minutes. It is done when an inserted tooth pick comes out dry and the top is a deep golden brown.
  10. Let dry completely before adding icing.
Icing
  1. Measure out a volume of icing sugar into a bowl.
  2. Add gin in three parts and stir until the icing is smooth but not to thin. Add more icing sugar or gin until you have the texture you want.
Finishing
  1. When the cake is cool, cover the top in icing and sprinkle with grated lemon peel.

 

Teasmith Gin

Twitter: @the_teasmith | Instagram: @the_teasmith | Facebook: /teasmithgin

Caroline received samples courtesy of The Teasmith.

Last updated by at .

mm

About Caroline von Schmalensee

Cooking, eating and drinking is fun as well as necessary. I do food for fun and I write for a living. Good food makes the world a more delicious and satisfying place. Good writing, meanwhile, can make the world a less confusing place.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.