Gin cake

For the lime sponge, preheat oven to 180˚C. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Combine egg yolks, oil, vanilla essence and lime zest and mix together. Add the boiling water to the egg yolk mixture, and immediately pour into the dry ingredients mixture, and mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

Gently fold egg whites into cake mixture. Pour mixture into 2 x 17cm-diameter tins, and bake for between 25 – 35 minutes.

For the lime curd, combine limes, lemons, butter, castor sugar, eggs and egg yolk in a saucepan. Stir gently until the mixture begins to thicken, about 10 minutes. Do not allow the curd to boil. Once thickened, place through a sieve. Allow to cool, about 15 minutes, and then stir in the gin.

For the lemon syrup, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and place on a low heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve without letting it boil, about 5 minutes.

For the lime curd buttercream icing, mix together softened butter with icing sugar. Add vanilla essence and boiling water and mix until light and fluffy. Mix in Lime Curd. If the buttercream icing is too stiff, add more boiling water one tablespoon at a time until you are happy with the consistency.

To assemble the cake, trim sponge cakes to ensure even layers. Place one layer onto cake board and drizzle with lemon syrup. Spread an even layer of the buttercream and lime curd onto the cake. Place next layer of cake on top and repeat until all layers are filled. Once cake is assembled smear a small amount of buttercream onto outsides of cake. Scrape any excess buttercream off to get a naked cake look. Chill in fridge, for at least 30 minutes, until ready to decorate.