My spouse has fond memories of his Italian grandma making anise bread for the holidays. Evidently, she never owned a recipe, and she never used a breadmaker! So, for a quick, unique Christmas bread, this is what I came up with. While baking, the aroma of this dense bread is delightful.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 ¼ cups white sugar
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ⅓ cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 egg yolk
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour two 8 inch diameter cake pans.
- Place the vinegar in a measuring cup, and pour in the milk to equal 3/4 cup. Set aside.
- Beat the sugar with the shortening in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, and continue beating until batter is smooth.
- Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in another mixing bowl, and stir to blend. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, alternating with the milk mixture. Stir in the lemon and vanilla extracts. Pour batter into prepared cake pans, dividing evenly.
- Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick or small knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the inside of the pans before inverting to remove the cakes. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.
- To make the icing, beat the butter, egg yolk, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Gradually sift in the confectioners’ sugar, alternating with the hot water, stirring until smooth. Do not add the cocoa until step 7.
- To frost the cake, place one layer on a cake plate. Use about half the icing to cover sides and top of the cake. Stir the cocoa into the remaining icing and blend well. Place the second cake layer on top of the first, and frost with the chocolate icing, meeting the plain icing halfway down the side of the cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 657 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 107 g |
| Cholesterol | 118 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 305 mg |
| Sugars | 86 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Full disclosure: I made vegan substitutions for this recipe. Specifically, I replaced the milk with soy milk, the butter with Earth Balance, and the egg with Ener-G egg replacer. However, something about the proportions here is way off. I attempted to divide the cake batter between two pans, but I couldn’t even coat the surface of one 8″ pan with half of the batter, so I ended up just using all of the batter to bake one layer for about 40 minutes. I also used 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar for the 1/3 cup of “butter.” I ended up just layering the chocolate frosting on top of the plain, as I had only made one layer, and I had to add more hot water to the icing when I added the cocoa to get it to mix. Personally, I also think the flavors are a bit odd, but for what it’s worth, somehow I’m still craving its lemony-ness today!
I think we need a bigger cake… This cake is quite nummy, but a horrible MESS! The cake itself is very thin and dense, and the icing is on absolute overload. I had to switch the plate I was icing on three times because it kept pooling over! In then end, I even had some left over in my hair. Haha. Anyway, the cake’s flavor is definitely different (the unique spice blend was what lured me to this recipe), it almost reminded me of French Toast, but the lemon extract gives it a pinch of zest that separates it from any breakfast specialty or other cake. The icing topping it all off, though, was definitely THE icing. It’s the only chocolate flavored icing I’ve ever thoroughly enjoyed, perhaps too much. =)
I was looking for something a little different and this definitely hit the spot. I even forgot to add the two extracts and it still came out good. Be aware that this is a very dense cake…it won’t rise much in the oven. On the bright side that made it really easy to get out of the cake pans. The mix of the two flavors of frosting was very good and it was all pretty easy to put together. My four year old son just rated it “the best frosting cake ever” lol.