Spiced Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Ganache, sweet & quite unique
This cake was originally called a licorice cake. But then I updated twimii recipes to make them easier to understand. So I removed all my unnecessary chatter and all my rambling about feelings and thoughts I had while coming up with a recipe or cooking the dish. When it came to updating the “licorice” cake, I had to admit that while this has an unusual flavour with a touch of aniseed, it does not taste exactly like licorice. I think people who like licorice will especially like this cake. But if they are expecting it to taste like black licorice they will probably be a bit disappointed.
This cake is like chocolate gingerbread with a depth and nuance provided by coffee, star aniseed and Chinese 5 Spice mix. I really like it. But understand that although its flavour may be reminiscent of licorice, it does not actually taste like licorice enough to satisfy that particular craving. But if you like gingerbread and licorice flavours mixed with chocolate you should enjoy this.
Could you make this cake without the star aniseed and Chinese 5 Spice mix? You could. It will be lovely. But just give the recipe below a try first. Unless you know for certain you don’t like these flavours.
I got the idea for adding Chinese 5 spice to the cake from a breakfast loaf recipe from Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy, which is a sweet loaf flavoured with Chinese 5 spice. And it’s very yummy.
So yes, this is an unusual cake. But if you want a uniquely spiced chocolate cake with a rich raspberry ganache, try this cake. What’s the worst that could happen?
Spiced Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Ganache
Yield: Serves 12 thin slices
Suitable for: Gluten-free diet
Ingredients:
- 125ml strong black coffee
- star aniseed
- small pinch of salt
- 175g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp crude blackstrap molasses
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Chinese 5 spice
- 150g ground almonds
- 150g gluten free plain flour
- 30g cocoa
- 100g dark brown sugar
- 25g white granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp bread soda, dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water
- 500g fresh or frozen raspberries
- 200g icing sugar
- fresh lemon juice
- 227g unsalted butter, cubed
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- milk chocolate for decoration, optional
Instructions:
Make the cake layers
Grease two 9 inch cake tins and line with greased baking paper. Turn on the oven to 160° C. Place a couple of star aniseed into a cup or bowl and pour over about 125ml of hot coffee. Leave to infuse while you prepare the other ingredients. Add 175g of unsalted butter to a saucepan with a small pinch of salt and melt on a gentle heat. Stir in the ground ginger, cinnamon, molasses and golden syrup. Keeps mixing until they are well combined. Then remove from the heat. Next, place the ground almonds in a deep mixing bowl and sift in the gluten-free plain flour, Chinese 5 spice and cocoa. Stir in the flours so that everything is evenly distributed and well combined. In another bowl beat the eggs together with 100g of dark brown sugar and 25g of granulated white sugar. Whisk until well combined. Now, pour the coffee through a strainer into the saucepan with the melted butter-spice-syrups mix. Stir them together well. The mix will still be warm but not hot. Whisk in two tablespoons of melted butter and coffee mix into the bowl with the whisked eggs. This is to temper the eggs so that they won’t scramble when you whisk in the full amount of melted butter mix. With the eggs tempered, whisk in the rest of the melted butter mix. Next, beat this mix into the flours in the mixing bowl. I use an electric whisk and it takes a few minutes to make sure it’s all well combined and there are no pockets of dry flour left. Stir in the bread soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water. If the mix looks a little dry add in another tablespoon or two of water. Next, put half the cake batter into each greased and lined cake tin. Be sure to leave a good centimetre for the cake to rise while baking. Bake for 45 minutes or until the batter has baked through. When you stick a skewer or fork into the cake and it comes out clean then you know it is baked through. When ready take the cakes out of the oven and leave to cool.Make the Raspberry ganache
Put the raspberries in a deep saucepan on a gentle-medium heat. Break up the raspberries with a fork masher. When the raspberries have broken down to a loose seedy mix, turn off the heat, put a fine mesh sieve over another saucepan and pour the raspberry mix into the sieve. Using a spoon or spatula apply pressure on the raspberries to force as much of the raspberry juice through the sieve as you can. This takes some time and a decent amount of pressure. When you have separated most of the raspberry juice from the seeds, remove the sieve from the pan and discard the seeds. Put the pan with the raspberry juice on a medium heat and add 200g of icing sugar. Stir in well. Keep stirring until it has thickened ~ about 10 minutes. Add in a quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Taste. It should have a fresh tangy sweet taste. You may want to add more icing sugar or lemon juice. If you decide to add more sugar, add it in one half tablespoon at a time, tasting after each addition. If you decide to add more lemon juice, add it in one half teaspoon at a time. I find the amount of sugar and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice works well, but make sure it’s to your taste. Once you are happy with the taste add in the cubed unsalted butter and keep stirring until it is all melted and well combined. Now remove from the heat, and transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for 1 hour, at which time the ganache should have the consistency of room temperature butter and you can spread it on the cake.Assemble the cake
Spread a good quarter of the raspberry ganache on top of one of the cake layers. Place the other cake layer on top of this. Spread the remaining raspberry ganache around the top and sides of the cake. If desired, decorate the top of the cake with some grated melted chocolate.
Enjoy!
