There’s nothing quite like combining two of life’s greatest pleasures – gin and cake! These Pink Gin & Lemon Cupcakes are the perfect bake for springtime celebrations, afternoon tea, or just a little indulgent treat with your favourite cocktail in hand.

Infused with the zesty brightness of lemon and topped with a smooth, slightly boozy pink gin buttercream (featuring Kells Pink Gin, of course), this recipe makes 12 beautifully soft cupcakes that are as pretty as they are delicious.

✨ What You’ll Need

For the Lemon Cupcakes:

• 125g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• Zest of 1 large lemon (juice reserved separately)
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp milk
• 70g icing sugar (for syrup)

For the Pink Gin Buttercream:

• 200g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 400g icing sugar, sifted
• 4 tbsp Kells Pink Gin
• A touch of pink food colouring (gel or paste preferred)

To Decorate:

• Fresh strawberries, halved or quartered

🧁 Let’s Bake!

Step 1: Prep the Oven & Cases
Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.

Step 2: Make the Sponge
Cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and lemon zest. Gently fold in the sifted flour and salt, then add the milk until smooth.

Scoop the mixture evenly into your cases (an ice cream scoop works wonders here) and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until golden and springy to touch.

Step 3: Soak with Lemon Syrup
While the cakes are baking, gently heat the lemon juice with 70g icing sugar until dissolved. Once the cupcakes are out of the oven, pierce them all over with a cocktail stick and spoon the syrup over each one to soak into the sponge. Let cool on a wire rack.

🍸 Make the Pink Gin Buttercream

Beat the butter until soft, then gradually add the sifted icing sugar. Mix in 2–4 tbsp of Kells Pink Gin, adjusting to your taste. Add a small dab of pink food colouring and beat until evenly tinted.

Pipe a generous swirl onto each cooled cupcake using your favourite nozzle (we love a classic 1M swirl!).

🍓 Time to Decorate!

Top each cupcake with a fresh strawberry slice and voilà – you're ready to serve! Perfect with a glass of Kells Pink Gin & Tonic on the side.

💖 These cupcakes are a dreamy fusion of sweet, zesty and floral notes – a true celebration of flavour and fun. Whether you're baking for Mother's Day, a girls’ night in, or just because… these Pink Gin & Lemon Cupcakes are sure to impress!

Don’t forget to tag us in your creations – we love seeing how you enjoy Kells Gin in and out of the glass!

#KellsGinBakes #PinkGinCupcakes #BakingWithGin #KellsGin #CupcakeRecipe #SpringBaking #GinLoversDelight

What a week it has been for us before we head into the Christmas festive period, we’ve been having celebrations of our own with not one, but two awards in the past week!

Firstly, we were delighted to attend the Meath Business and Tourism Awards in Trim, where the Headfort was a finalist in the category of ‘Best Family Business’ and Kells Gin a finalist in the Local Enterprise Award. It’s an achievement to even get to this stage of this prestigious award and it was wonderful to be recognized as a significant family run business in Meath.

The big Win on the night came the way of Kells Gin, which having scooped two global awards in the past year - International Spirits Challenge and World Gin Award, took the overall title of the Local Enterprise Award for 2023, a category which was so well supported by Joe English of the LEO Office and his team who have been fundamental to the development of our beloved local tipple now making tracks on the International drinks stage!

 If you haven’t tasted our Award Winning tipple, you will be glad to know that it is our ‘House Gin Pour’ so you can enjoy over the festive period! Or, why not gift it? We have beautiful Gin Boxes on sale which can be ordered via our online shop, or if you are an off license, hotel or restaurant and would like to stock Kells Gin, we would love to hear from you, simply email on: sales@kellsgin.ie.

After only one year on the market, Kells Gin has landed a major global award scooping Gold at the Global Gin Masters 2022 in the UK.

The much respected Gin Masters Awards, hosted in London received entries from a staggering 91 Countries in a range of categories on a global stage. Chaired by ‘The Spirits Business’ and a panel of leading international spirits specialists, the spirits are judged in a blind tasting environment and criticized to the highest level. To receive any type of recognition is always commendable but to attain Gold from the single entry made by Kells Gin really speaks volumes of the quality and uniqueness of this new to market product.

A lockdown project with the assistance of Listoke Distillery, Kells Gin is the brain child of brother and sister duo, Vincent and Olivia Duff in Kells. It was officially launched to the market in November 2021. Much time and consideration was invested into the range of botanicals, local ingredients and citrus led notes that give Kells Gin it’s unique traits as a premium bespoke craft gin.

Introduced initially as the signature house pour at the family run Headfort Arms Hotel, the brand has been warmly received by locals and visitors alike. The Gin has also caught the attention of many diaspora abroad. According to director Olivia Duff ‘In a crowded craft gin market, it was critical to gather the imagination of those who were looking for a really quality gin experience, this is where we have pitched Kells’. On the back of demand, this Summer saw the introduction of a ‘Kells Pink Gin’, offering a more floral and fruit lead version of the signature success.

“We were over the moon with this accolade,” said Vincent Duff, Director of Kells Gin. “It’s great to know that our vision for our beloved Kells brand has been recognised with a gold seal of approval by The Spirits Business, we knew we had something unique and special but this award will give us the confidence to push it further globally now’

This award now sets Kells Gin’s sights on the global stage and the next move for this new product will be widely anticipated.