An Apple Martini, Appletini for short, is a cocktail containing vodka and either apple juice, apple cider, apple liqueur or apple brandy. Optionally, vermouth may be included as in a regular martini. Typically, the Appletini is shaken or stirred with a sweet and sour mix and then strained into a cocktail glass.

Apple Martini or Appletini was created and popularized in 1997 by Adam Karsten, a bartender at Lola’s in West Hollywood, California.

I am a cocktail kind of girl. Maybe the sweetness of the chilled alcoholic beverage is what appeals to me. Wine I find sour, Beer I find bitter and of course Whiskey takes bitterness to another level for me, I’m unashamed to say. I’ve tasted most of the sweet flavoured cocktails and I love most of them.

In my throes of culinary inventiveness, I dreamed up my series of cakes tasting like my favourite cocktails. Developing the recipes, I realised that all the goodness of fresh fruit, dried fruit and herbs was being used to flavour my cakes. So, in fact they are nutritious cakes.  To add the alcohol or not is an option. I’ve kept the base cake recipe the same, adding flavourings and alcohol according to the cocktail I was being inspired by.

My post on the series of cocktail flavoured cakes can be read on Cocktail in a Cake.

Appletini Cocktail Cake

Ingredients ~

100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 Granny Smith apple
¼ cup Martini or Vodka
3 drops green food colour

Method ~

1. Beat the butter and caster sugar till pale and double in volume.
2. Add one egg at a time, beating into the batter till well incorporated.
3. Peel and core the apple and dice into small pieces and add into the batter.
4. Gently mix in the Martini and the green food colour.
5. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter.
6. Pour the batter into a greased and floured baking tin.
7. Bake at 160*C for 25-30 minutes or till done.
8. Serve decorated with sliced apples.