• Medium Terracotta flower pot – approx. 15cm high
• Greaseproof paper
• Cake release spray
• Wafer/rice paper
• Grass tip piping nozzle
• Piping bag
• 10cm cake board
• Palette knife
• Cake scraper
• 20cm chopstick/Mikado biscuit
• Small half-sphere mould
• Green food colouring

Cake

• 100g plain flour
• 100g butter/baking spread
• 100g granulated/caster sugar
• 75g sour cream/buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Zest 1 lime
• 1 tsp juniper berries – crushed
• 50g brown fondant icing
• 50g dark chocolate

Gin and tonic syrup

• 100g granulated sugar
• 50ml tonic water
• 25ml gin

Buttercream

• 350g icing sugar
• 175g butter
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp lime juice/1 tsp lime extract

1. Preheat oven to 180C (fan).
2. Spray the inside of a flower pot with cake release spray or oil. Line with greaseproof paper. Cut small circle out of paper to line bottom then wrap paper around the inside of the pot. Spray again with cake release spray/oil. Place in oven to preheat the pot.
3. Place butter and sugar in bowl of a stand mixer or metal/glass bowl. Combine until creamy and pale.
4. Add both eggs and a dessert spoon of flour and mix.
5. Add remaining flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix until combined.
6. Add sour cream/buttermilk, lime zest, juniper berries and mix until just combined.
7. Remove pot from oven – careful as it will be hot!
8. Pour cake batter ¾ of the way up the pot. Don't worry if you have some batter left over. Place on a baking tray and return to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
9. As the cake is baking, make your G&T syrup. Place tonic water and sugar into a small pan over a medium heat on the hob. Stir until the sugar is mixed and keep stirring until the mixture comes to the boil. It will seem quite thin at first, but will thicken as it cools. Once the mixture has boiled, remove from the heat and add your gin. Be careful as the gin fumes are strong! Leave syrup to cool.
10. After 30 minutes, take cake from oven and place a skewer through the middle. If it comes out clean, remove from oven. If not, return to oven for 5-10 minutes. Once skewer comes out clean, remove cake from oven.
11. Use a fork to make holes in the top of the cake and then slowly and carefully pour over your syrup. This should trickle down the cake. Don't worry if you don't use it all – better to have too much than too little!
12. Leave to rest for 10 minutes then turn cake out. You may need to run a palette knife around the edge to release. Remove greaseproof paper and leave on a cooling rack until completely cool. If you're impatient like me you can put it in the fridge.
13. Make the buttercream: place butter in bowl of stand mixer or metal / glass bowl. Whip butter with whisk attachment / hand mixer until light, fluffy and almost white. Sieve icing sugar into the butter, switch to paddle attachment and mix until combined. Buttercream will be thick and firm.
14. Add 1-2 tbsp of milk to loosen the mix along with 1tbsp lime juice. Buttercream should be light, smooth but a spreadable consistency which coats the back of a spoon. If it is too firm, add another tsp of milk. If it has become sloppy then add 20-30g sieved icing sugar and continue until you get the desired texture.
15. Take a heaped dessert spoon of buttercream, place in a bowl and add green food colouring. This will be the grass around the windmill!
16. Make windmill doors and windows: Roll out fondant until 0.5cm thick. Cut out three 1x1cm squares and one 2x1 cm rectangle.
17. Once your cake is cool, cut it in half with a serrated knife and level the wider end of the cake. Using a palette knife, place a little buttercream in the middle of your cake board and place the wide end of the cake on the board. Pipe or spread a layer of buttercream on the top of the cake and then place your second half on top.
18. Using your palette knife, spread the buttercream around your cake until you get an even covering. Using the scraper, smooth the buttercream and level the top. This will be your crumb coat to lock in all the crumbs. Place in the fridge for 20 mins or freezer for 10 mins until the buttercream has firmed up.
19. Once firm, spread another layer of buttercream on the cake and smooth with the scraper. Smooth the top of the cake with your palette knife. If you feel the cake needs more buttercream, return to the fridge/freezer to firm up then add another layer.
20. Time to decorate! Find your fondant rectangle (your 'door') and place this at the bottom of the cake. Then, with your squares, evenly space on the opposite side to make your 'windows'. Leave a 2cm gap at the top for your windmill 'sails'!
21. If you are using the sphere mould to create the top of your cake, melt your dark chocolate and pour this into the mould. Level it off with a palette knife and place in the fridge. If you are not doing this, you can leave the top of your windmill smooth.
22. To make the sails, draw out a 10x10cm plus sign and cut this out. Use a skewer or knife (carefully) to make a hole in the middle of the sails. Use the skewer to make a hole approximately 1cm down from the top of the cake. Using your 20cm chopstick / Mikado biscuit, run this through your sails until the sails are 1cm from the end of the biscuit. Run this through the hole you made at the top of your cake.