With the count down to the year end and the feeling of festiveness in the air, I thought why not bring the flavour of the Cocktails into my cakes. Turning recipes upside down or inside out is what I love doing. I’ve taken the popular Cocktails and converted their flavours into cakes. Yes, these cake recipes are not vintage but their inspiration is from heirloom Cocktails of the similar name.
A Cocktail is an alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice or cream. ~ Oxford Dictonary
A Cocktail is any of various short mixed drinks, consisting typically of gin, whiskey, rum, vodka, or brandy, with different admixtures, as vermouth, fruit juices, or flavorings, usually chilled and frequently sweetened. ~ Dictionary.com
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.
I come from a teetotaller family and was not exposed to spirits of any kind through my growing up years, which I and most others will find surprising today. Those were simple times when you mingled with your large families, had censored TV and no electronic media to bombard your senses. I was exposed to spirits when I got married through the extended family my husband belongs to. The juices and the soft drinks laced with a bit of alcohol were my introduction into the spirit world. I still have a taste for only cocktails, whatever the reigning fad may be.
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. The Bloody Mary Cocktail cake is the only savoury one in this long list of Cocktail inspired cakes.
Sex on the Beach Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
100 gms chunky Orange Marmalade
50 gms Cranberries
¼ cup Mandarin flavoured Vodka
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. Mix the marmalade and cranberries into the batter.
4. Gently stir in the Vodka.
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 some marmalade and cranberries.
The cocktail Sex on the Beach is made from vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice.
One interesting version of its origin –
The earliest known invention of the cocktail and name dates back to 1987 in Florida, USA. A distributor had just begun to sell a new product, peach schnapps, in the autumn.
With many tourists due for the spring holiday the distributor devised a contest that would pay the bar that sold the most peach schnapps a bonus of $1000 and the bartender that was responsible at that bar for the highest sales would receive $100.
A young bartender named Ted, working at Confetti’s Bar, mixed up a peach schnapps, vodka, orange juice and grenadine cocktail. When Ted began to sell the drink, he was asked what it was called.
On the spot, Ted thought what the main reason was that people came to Florida for their Spring break – it was The Beach and Sex.
“Sex on the Beach!” he replied, and as the drink gained fame that spring, thousands of students returned home and asked their local bartenders for ‘Sex on the Beach.’
The bartenders did not know how to make a drink they had never heard of so they asked around and this led to the many regional variations of the drink.
http://www.sexonthebeach.com/beach/index.php/origins
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.
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.
Pina Colada Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
100 gms dried Coconut flakes
4 rings of tinned pineapple
¼ cup Coconut flavoured Rum
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. Chop 3 of the pineapple rings and add to the batter along with the coconut flakes.
4. Gently stir in the Coconut flavoured Rum.
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. Decorate with the remaining pineapple ring and a cherry.
The Piña Colada is a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with rum, cream of coconut, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with a pineapple wedge, a maraschino cherry or both. The Piña Colada has been the national drink of Puerto Rico since 1978 ~ Wikipedia
Two bartenders claim to have invented the Pina Colada. Ramón Portas Mingot says he created it in 1963 at the Barrachina Restaurant, 104 Fortaleza Street, Old San Juan. The restaurant stands by his claim to this day. Ricardo García, who worked at the Caribe, says that it was he who invented the drink. The Caribe Hilton Hotel outside San Juan, was the first luxury hotel to open in the region, becoming a popular destination for the rich and famous who helped spread word of the drink.
Strawberry Daiquiri Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150 gms strawberries
2 tsp sugar
A squeeze of lime
¼ cup White Rum
3 drops of red food colour
Preparation ~
1. Cook the strawberries with the sugar on high flame till the strawberries are soft. Mash them and cook them till they look like a thick jam. Add the lemon juice to balance the flavour.
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. Gently stir in the white Rum and the red food colour.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter.
5. Cool the strawberry jam and swirl it 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. Decorate with strawberry jam and fresh strawberry.
Daiquiri is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, citrus, typically lime juice and sugar or other sweetener. The strawberries and lime mixed with sugar syrup and sweet rum, make this classic daiquiri cocktail a real crowd pleaser. It is a perfect summer cocktail, a fresh fruit smoothie with a kick that is very hard to resist.
Named after a small Cuban village east of Santiago, the Daiquiri cocktail is said to have been invented by a mining engineer from the United States during or shortly after the Spanish-American War of 1898 after running out of gin. History supposedly credits Jennings Cox who was the General Manager for the Spanish American Iron Company with the drink recipe, but there are many doubters.
The Daiquiri’s claim to fame, which attracted international attention, may be the Cuban rum recipes served down at the El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba. Writer Ernest Hemingway and his famous friends Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman were frequent guests known for sipping daiquiris made by Constante Ribailagua who served them up there while bartending from 1912 – 1952.
Mojito Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
2 tbsp grated lemon peel
2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
¼ cup White Rum
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. Mix the grated lemon peel and the chopped mint leaves to the batter.
4. Gently stir in the white rum.
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. Decorate with lemon slices and mint sprigs.
When preparing a Mojito, lime juice is added to sugar syrup and mint leaves. The mixture is then gently mashed with a muddler. The mint leaves should only be bruised to release the essential oils and should not be shredded. Then rum is added and the mixture is briefly stirred to dissolve the sugar and to lift the mint leaves up from the bottom for better presentation. Finally, the drink is topped with whole ice cubes and sparkling soda water. Mint leaves and lime wedges are used to garnish the glass. ~ Wikipedia
The Mojito was born on the island of Cuba and is one of the nation’s oldest cocktails. In the mid-1800’s the creation of the Bacardi company bolstered the popularity of the Mojito. The mojito rose to prominence to the international world when renowned writer Ernest Hemingway became a fan of the beverage after visiting a local Cuban bar called ‘La Bodeguita del Medio‘ and also consumed the drink in Key West, Florida. While we may never know the true origin of the drink, the tasty combination of lime and mint is sure to stick around for years to come.
Screwdriver Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 small Mandarin Orange
¼ cup Vodka
Preparation ~
1.Boil the Mandarin orange till soft, remove the seeds and blend the whole orange into a smooth paste.
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. Add the orange paste into the batter.
4. Gently stir in the Vodka.
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. Decorate with orange slices.
A Screwdriver is a popular highball drink made with fresh orange juice and vodka. The drink got its name because the American engineers surreptitiously added vodka to small cans of orange juice and stirred the mixture with their screwdrivers.
The earliest written reference to the Screwdriver is from the October 24, 1949 issue of Time:
“In the dimly lighted bar of the sleek Park Hotel, Turkish intelligence agents mingle with American engineers and Balkan refugees, drinking the latest Yankee concoction of vodka and orange juice, called a ‘Screwdriver’.”
Margarita Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
100 gms soft butter
100 gms caster sugar
110 gms flour
¼ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
2 tbsp finely chopped kafir lime leaves
¼ cup Tequila
2 lemons, juice
3 tbsp icing sugar
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. To the batter add the finely chopped kafir lime leaves.
4. Gently stir in the tequila.
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. Drench the warm cake with the mixture of lemon juice and icing sugar.
The Margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec such as Cointreau and lime or lemon juice, often served with salt on the rim of the glass. It is the most common tequila-based cocktail in the United States. The drink is served shaken with ice on the rocks, blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). The first known publication of a margarita recipe was in the December 1953 issue of Esquire, with a recipe calling for an ounce of tequila, a dash of triple sec and the juice of half a lime or lemon.
There are many stories regarding the origin of a Margarita Cocktail, sometimes named after a lady named Margarita or invented by a lady of the same name. It is also the Spanish name for a drink called Tequila Daisy, Margarita being Daisy in Spanish.
Bloody Mary Cocktail Cake
Ingredients ~
5 tbsp olive oil
300 gms flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
300 ml milk
2 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
1 tsp tobasco sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
25 gms Sundried tomatoes
1 stalk Celery
¼ cup Vodka
Method ~
1. Beat the egg, olive oil, concentrated tomato paste, tobasco sauce, worcestershire sauce together.
2. To the batter add the finely chopped sundried tomatoes and celery stalk.
3. Add the milk and the vodka to the batter.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda and fold into the batter.
5. Pour the batter into a greased and floured baking tin.
6. Bake at 160*C for 25-30 minutes or till done.
7. Decorate with celery leaves and tomato slices.
Bloody Mary is a popular cocktail made up of tomato juice, addition of the spirit vodka, and combinations of spices and flavourings including worcestershire, tabasco and horseradish sauces, celery, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and celery salt. It has sometimes been called the world’s most complex cocktail.
One of the earliest claimants to inventing the Bloody Mary cocktail was Fernand Petiot, who claimed to have invented the Bloody Mary in 1921, well before any of the later claims, while working at the New York Bar in Paris, which later became Harry’s New York Bar, a frequent Paris hangout for Ernest Hemingway and other American expatriates. ~Wikipedia
In my family, the cocktail, Bloody Mary, is a much-loved lunch cocktail during family gatherings and lunch parties. Both the ladies and gents are fond of this tart drink. I do add a good bit of lemon juice and tabasco to spice it. The best part is the glass rimmed with salt.
So here I’m trying to convert this cocktail into my cake series, though this turned out to be more of a savoury bread. The sundried tomato and the celery gave it a bite and the various sauces gave it a distinct punch. The sundried tomato paste gave the cake a lovely reddish hue. It could be eaten with the cocktail itself with various dips or as a snack on its own slaughtered with butter or cream cheese.