Excerpted from Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes From a Life of Adventurous Eating by Gail Simmons with Mindy Fox, 2017. Reprinted with permission from Grand Central Life & Style. All rights reserved.
Top Chef judge Gail Simmons inherited from her father affinities for both black licorice and pure, dark chocolate. To honor him she concocted this deep, dark chocolaty cake, which gets a touch of sophisticated salt flavor, plus notes of molasses and anise, from black licorice.
Makes
12 servingsIngredients
- Unsalted butter at room temperature, for greasing pan
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus more for dusting
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons licorice root powder
- 1 ½ cups hot water
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate 70%, coarsely chopped (1 ¼ cups)
- 3 ounces Australian soft black licorice chews coarsely chopped (½ cup packed)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350° with the rack in the middle. Brush the soft butter generously all over the inside of a 12-cup Bundt pan, then dust lightly with cocoa powder, shaking off any excess.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, licorice root powder, and hot water. Add the sugar and whisk well to combine. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- In three additions, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring between each addition until incorporated before adding the next. Fold in the sour cream, chocolate, and licorice chews.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack; remove the pan and let cool completely. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving. Cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic, for up to 3 days.
