Celebrate Valentine’s day and spoil your loved one with a Roku Japanese gin cake

It is new, it is different and it is delicious. Here is your chance to have some fun in the kitchen and spoil your sweetheart. The cherry on the cake is that you stand a chance to win a prize.  In celebration of the month of love, Write Minds in partnership with Roku Japanese gin is running a competition in which two lucky readers stand the chance of winning a Roku hamper worth R500. All you have to do, is to follow our social media channels for the competition details.

In the meantime, you can try the recipe at home:

Roku Japanese Gin Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 250g salted butter

• 325g golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250g self-raising flour
• 75g natural yogurt
• 2 large limes, juice only
• 75ml Roku Japanese gin
• 150ml tonic water
• 1 tsp juniper berries, lightly crushed

For the icing

• 200g softened butter

• 400g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• zest of 3 limes (using up those you’ve juiced, above)

To decorate

• 2 limes, zested then 1 cut into thin wedges to decorate

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• lemon sherbets
• ¼ cucumber, peeled into ribbons
• party straws

Method

• STEP 1

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins. In a freestanding electric mixer, or using an electric whisk, beat together the butter and 200g of the sugar until pale and fluffy, for around 5 mins. Add the eggs one by one, making sure they are fully incorporated before adding the next one. If the mixture looks like it might split, add a tablespoon of your flour, then fold in the rest of the flour. Mix the natural yogurt with the juice of one of the limes and 50ml of Roku Japanese gin, then add this to the cake mixture to make a thick and silky mixture. Split the mixture between the cake tins and bake for 35 mins until a skewer comes out clean.

• STEP 2

Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the remaining sugar, tonic water, juniper berries and juice of one lime into a saucepan over medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and cook for 5-7 mins, until it’s a thick syrup. Cool for 5 mins, strain then pour in the remaining Roku Japanese gin and set aside.

• STEP 3

Once the cake is out of the oven, allow to cool for 5 mins, then prick all over with a skewer, then liberally spoon the syrup mix over both of the cakes. Allow to cool completely in the tin.

• STEP 4

To make the buttercream, beat the butter until soft, then add the icing sugar, a little at a time to avoid a sugar cloud! Once fully incorporated, add the milk and the zest of the limes.

• STEP 5

To assemble, place one of the cake layers on a cake board, cover with 1/3 of the buttercream then sit the second cake layer on top. Cover this, too, in just a thin coat of icing then put the cake in the fridge for 30 mins to firm up – this will make it easier to get the rest of the icing on smoothly. Use the remaining buttercream to cover the top and sides of the cake.

• STEP 6

To decorate, mix the lime zest with the sugar. Sprinkle this over the cake and finish with lemon sherbets, lime slices, cucumber ribbons, party straws and any other gin & tonic paraphernalia you fancy.

Follow: @writeminds.news @steve_premium on Facebook and Instagram #RokuGinSA

*Please note that winners must be 18 years and older.

*Roku Japanese Gin is not for sale to persons under the age of 18.

About Roku Japanese Gin

“Roku Japanese Gin is carefully crafted by Japanese artisans with skilful precision and meticulous attention to detail to create a perfectly balanced gin. Roku Japanese Gin’s flavour profile is achieved by balancing six unique Japanese botanicals with eight traditional gin botanicals. The six Japanese botanicals – Sakura flower, Sakura leaf, Yuzu peel, Sencha tea, Gyokuro tea and Sansho pepper – are harvested in accordance with ‘shun’, the tradition of enjoying each ingredient at its best by only harvesting at its peak of flavour and perfection.

In a process unique to Roku Japanese Gin, the six Japanese botanicals are distilled using a selection of different pot stills, each chosen to ensure the best flavour is extracted from each botanical. The result is a complex yet harmonious gin with a smooth and silky texture.  This unique liquid was born out of a vision to create a truly authentic Japanese product to meet demand for a crafted, premium gin with a distinctive and balanced flavour.

Meticulous attention to detail – the signature of Japanese craftsmanship – also extends to the bottle. Roku Japanese Gin’s bottle is cast in a hexagonal shape, representing each Japanese botanical, and is finished with delicate embossing. The Japanese kanji symbol for six is printed on the label, which is made of traditional washi paper and finished with subtle touches of gold.

In a 750ml bottle at 43% ABV, Roku is offered at a recommended retail price from R299 in major retailers nationwide; Makro, Pick n Pay, Checkers, and online from Takealot. For more information, please visit http://www.suntory.co.jp/wnb/rokugin/ “