RICH Licorice Cake

This was fun.

              Really fun!

                             Especially if you like licorice :)

If not... well... I'm sorry.  I hope do someday. Then you can try this cake.

Warning:  This cake is potent.  I loved it, but if you do not enjoy rich and extremely compact flavors, this cake may be overwhelming.  In that case, I hope you can at least get an idea from what I did and cut down on the licorice, molasses, anise seed, etc.

We took the carrot cake recipe on allrecipes.com and made some changes to turn it into an amazing [Dense.Rich.Moist] Licorice cake!  At the bottom of the post is the recipe for the cake.

 We cooked it in a rice maker (on the cake setting), but ran into a problem. After it beeped, the cake still seemed uncooked, so we put it on again for about half the time.  (Total time in the rice maker 90min)  It wasn't cooking very well, so we ended up putting it in the toaster oven for about 15 minutes, but it was starting to burn!

We did make some other changes to the cake that could be a problem.  We didn't have crushed pineapples so we took chunks of canned pineapple and crushed them oursleves (but weren't able to get all the juice out). We also added a little more buttermilk than we were suppose to. I didn't change the measurement of milk in the recipe though, because it probably is better with the original amount.

All that said... we don't know the right way to cook it yet.  BUT!  It turned out absolutely delicious this way, so if you want to jump through those loops and end up with a cake that is almost the consistency of a bread pudding (such as persimmon), enjoy.

Whole Aniseed

The cake is pretty much the normal carrot cake recipe, with one or two changes.  We left out the vanilla and Cinnamon and put in some ground aniseeds.  The frosting has a LOT of flavor and complements the cake very well.

For the aniseed in the cake, make sure you crush them (if you don't it is probably the equivalent of leaving a clove whole).  Once they are ground, put them in the oil  until you have collected the rest of your ingredients.  This should help release the flavor.

Licorice Root

The inside frosting uses molasses and licorice powder.  You may not be familiar with licorice powder.  I don't know if you can find it sold by scoops anymore, lately we've seen it sold in capsules, which is what we used for the frosting.  We wanted the cake to be very licoricey, so we put in a LOT (meaning about a 4th of the bottle).

Anise Extract

The top frosting uses anise extract (different from the whole seed).  It smells deliciously like fennel!

 Well enjoy baking!  If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear about it. 

RICH Licorice Carrot Cake

 Inner Frosting Ingredients:

-Powdered Sugar
-Licorice root (about 24 capsules [11,250mg])
-Molasses
-Cream cheese

 Outer Frosting Ingredients:

-Powdered Sugar
-Licorice root (2 capsuls [900mg])
-Anise Extract
-Evaporated Milk

Cake Ingredients:

3-4 TBS anise seeds, crushed (approx 1oz)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 (15 ounce) can crushed pineapple,
drained
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chopped pecans

 Directions:

1) Crush the anise seed in a mortar and pestle, then put it in the vegetable oil and put aside for a few minutes.

2) Mix wet ingredients (including the anise seeds and oil)

3) Mix dry ingredients and combine with wet ingredients using an electric beater.

4) Bake.

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5) In two bowls make the two frostings. Use electric beater near end of mixing for a smoother texture. The measurements are vague because it is personal choice and consistency. Be cautious with the liquid, as frosting can thin very easily.

6) When cake is cool, create two layers and put the molasses/licorice frosting in between, not quite going to the edges so that nothing leeks out).

7) Put top layer on and frost the outside with the anise frosting.

8) Decorate with coconut, pecans, and licorice candy.