Chocolate Cake with Licorice

chocolatecake

My favorite sweet is licorice; sweet, salty or both. Unfortunately its hard to find my favorites outside Scandinavia. This has made me dream of making my own licorice treats.

This winter I finally got my hands on some licorice powder. I was so totally happy that I wanted to tell the whole world about my treasure. One person I told was a sale’s women in my favorite candy shop in Malmö (Sweden). She was impressed (or rather amused) and offered me a taste of some of their exclusive chocolate bars. One of them was a dark chocolate with a touch of licorice. I was sold…

for the Chocolate Cake

2 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) sucanat
4-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt (only if you’re using unsalted butter)
2/3 cup (150 ml) pastry flour
4 oz (a little more than 100g) butter, melted

Whisk eggs and sucanat in a bowl. In a separate bowl sift flour together with cocoa powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the eggs and stir until combined. Pour in the butter and stir until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a greased 9” pie form. Bake the cake in the oven at 350 F (150°C) for about 15-20 minutes. The cake should be sticky inside. Let the cake cool off.

Ganache with Licorice

2/3 cup (150 ml) cream
½ cup (100 ml) sucanat (use no sugar if chocolate is sweetened)
3.5 oz dark chopped chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa)
1 teaspoon licorice powder*
two table spoons butter

Bring the cream and the sucanat to a boil. Lower the heat and add the chocolate and the licorice powder. When chocolate is melted take the pan aside and add the butter. Stir until smooth.
Spread the ganache over the cooled chocolate cake and let it cool for at least an hour.

At last I have to say that I got very inspired by the lovely recipes in the new Swedish cook book, Lakrits, Mint & Choklad (Licorice, Mint & Chocolate) by Elisabeth Johansson.

*licorice powder is a licorice flavoring in powder form. Unfortunate I haven’t found this product in the USA. However it may be possible to buy it online from Panduro Hobby (folow this link if you are in the UK)
You can also find licorice flavoring at Essence Fabriken in Stockholm. They take orders by phone or fax. Hopefully they take orders from other countries than Sweden.

7 thoughts on “Chocolate Cake with Licorice”

  1. Chocolate and licorice together is the best! A few years ago Cloetta made a special version of Plopp with a licorice filling and I can still dream about it…

  2. Maybe you couls add a bit of ammonium chloride (salmiak) as well, to get the really salty feeling. Maybe make licorice crisp from sugar, l-powder and salmiak.

    I hope you’ll find a scandinavian shop with loads of licorice soon, I know how hard it is to find it abroad…

  3. I am in North Carolina in the USA, but originally from Michigan. Found this store up in Michigan, and they deliver across the country! They have salmiak powder (salty & sweet varieties), which I’m going to use to try this recipe out! 🙂

    http://www.thedutchstore.com/

  4. Fantastic Beth! However I couldn’t find it on their website. Maybe they call it something else…?

  5. I have been looking for a dark chocolate anise cupcake with milk chocolate frosting. I think.

    All I know is anything licorice/anise and milk chocolate is my type of heaven. Those little Lakrit pastels? OMG…would have to decorate the cupcakes with them.

    I guess Ill have to make it up as I go~ just came across this recipe while looking.

    Actually I did find a fluffy marscapone/anise hyssop frosting – but I cant do dairy in that type of concentration. Wish I could cause it sounds great.

  6. living in Denmark in Scandinavia and once made some meringues with licorice taste mmmmm love liquorice

  7. Hi Laura,
    Liquorice marengues sounds amazing. I will definetly try it out one day! Thanks

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