Cucumber and Lemon Cake with Gin Icing

cucumbercakelemonginicing Cucumber and Lemon Cake. This delicate green cucumber cake tastes like a lemon sponge with a subtle, refreshing flavour from the cucumber. It's a summery cake that is topped with a gin icing. The gin gives light botanical flavours to the sweet icing to compliment the lemon and cucumber in the cake.

Cucumber and Lemon Cake:
½ cucumber (200 g)
½ a lemon, freshly squeezed
½ a lemon, freshly zested
⅔ cup butter, softened (150 g)
¾ cup Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Granular) (150 g)
1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1¾ cups all purpose flour, unbleached (200 g)
2 tsp. baking powder

Gin Icing:
⅓ cup butter, softened (75 g)
1½ cups Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Powdered) (200 g)
1 Tbsp. gin or lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C/140°C fan, Gas Mark 3). Lightly grease 2x7" cake tins, 3x6" tins, or one 9" round cake tin.

For the Cucumber and Lemon Cake:
Wash and leave the skin on the cucumber and de-seed it by cutting it in half lengthways and scraping the seeds out with a tsp. Cut into chunks and purée until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice.

Cream the butter, lemon zest, sugar and vanilla together for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in well.

Add the baking powder to the flour and mix. Into the wet ingredients, stir in ⅓ of the flour mixture, then gently mix in ⅓ of the cucumber and continue until it is all combined.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean (it will take less time for the three small tins and slightly longer for the larger 9" tin). Allow to cool for five minutes in the tin and turn out on a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

For the Gin Icing:
Beat the butter, icing sugar and gin together until smooth and fluffy. Keep in the fridge until ready to ice the cake. (To frost all the way around the cake, double the amount).