Posted by If you’re going to raise a glass to F. Scott Fitzgerald, you’d better stock up on the gin. It was, after all, his drink of choice. Apparently he thought that gin couldn’t be detected on his breath. Whether that’s true or not, Fitzgerald was known to drink a Gin Rickey now and again, which is a simple cocktail made with gin, lime juice, and a splash of club soda.
I kept Fitzgerald’s affection for gin in mind while flipping through my cookbooks to find a recipe for a cake I could make in his honour. I initially thought about making this gin & tonic cake but decided against it. Instead I went with something a little more subtle. I used a recipe for rum raisin cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World but used gin instead of rum. Gin raisin doesn’t roll off the tongue like rum raisin, but I guarantee you that these were some damn good cupcakes. You could barely taste the gin, so maybe Scott wouldn’t have liked them. Or maybe he would have loved them because he could enjoy them in the morning with coffee. Gin for breakfast!
(On an aside, did you know that gin-soaked raisins are sometimes used to heal arthritic pain? Who knew? )
We all know writers like to drink, so if you’re curious about the favourite cocktails of some other famous authors, have a look at this post on Literary Drinks featured on the Kitchn.