Bite me! Alcohol-free gin & tonic cake bites

Are you doing sober October?

I love the idea of a booze-free month and try and do one month a year at least but sometimes two.

This year, I’m even more up for sober October because I’ve discovered dry drinker. A shop that sells, beer, wine, gin & tonic, spirits and more. What’s unusual about that, I hear you say. The thing is, all the drinks have very, very low to no-alcohol content.  So you can have your cake and eat it too!

When Dry Drinker asked me to partner with them, I was totally up for it.   I decided to try out the alcohol free gin & tonic. I’d heard really good things about it and it didn’t disappoint.  Perhaps if you’re a gin connoisseur you might notice a difference but for the rest of us, I thought it was really good especially with a twist of lime.

I’ve always wanted to make a G&T dessert and now seemed like the perfect time. I’m partial to mini desserts (makes me feel less guilty) so I came up with the idea of making these bite-sized gin and tonic cake balls with buttercream.  Being alcohol free, even the kiddies can happily tuck in to them.  These mini cakes are delicious little bites of sweetness and they’re even tastier when served with an ice cold glass of g&t to wash them down with.

Mini Gin and Tonic Cake recipe

INGREDIENTS (makes 30):

Cake bites:
125 gms softened butter + extra for greasing
125 gms caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125 gms self raising flour
zest of 1½ limes + 2 tsp lime juice
2 tbs natural green colouring (made by boiling down a handful of spinach & pureeing) – I used this to give the cake balls a green hue but they’ll taste just the same witout

Gin & Tonic buttercream:
110 gms unsalted butter
150 gms icing sugar (add more or less depending on how sweet you like it)
6 tbs alcohol free gin and tonic
zest of ½ a lime

Equipment:
cake pop mould

Heat the oven to 180°c (or 160°c fan assisted).  Lightly grease both sides of your cake pop mould.

For the cake bites,  beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Add one egg at a time and completely mix in.  Add the green food colouring (if using), lime zest and juice and mix again. Finally sift the flour in to the bowl and and mix to make sure everything is combined.

The easiest way to fill your cake pop mould is to use a piping bag.  Fill the side that doesn’t have air holes and fill to the top – this will make sure they come out round.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

For the G&T buttercream, beat the butter and sugar together. Add the lime zest and the G&T one tablespoon at a time. Mix after each tablespoon until it’s all well mixed.

Once completely cooled, slice the cake pops in half – I sliced them about a ⅓ of the way up. Using a piping bag (or two teaspoons), pipe in some butter cream and place the top on, giving it a gentle push to make them hold together.

Note: If your cake balls come out completely round (lucky you!), you can slice off a tiny sliver at the bottom to get them to stand up without rolling around.

Enjoy with a glass of alcohol free gin & tonic.

These mini gin and tonic cakes were easy to make and so more-ish that I can’t wait to make them again and experiment with different flavours. I’m thinking alcohol-free prosecco bellini next. All that peachy goodness!

If you are doing sober October, Dry Drinker is worth checking out.  Or even if you just want to enjoy a glass or two without the alcohol effects, they have a great selection of drinks.

This post is in partnership with Dry Drinker. All photos, ideas and opinions are mine. Thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog.