Pink and White Anise Cake Recipe
I admit it, this is one of those blog posts that I’m writing so that I can Google the recipe later. Every time I’ve gone to make this recipe in the last 5 years I would pull out all the ingredients, start the recipe, get to the instruction that said “add eggs, one at a time” and then I realize that “eggs” never even made it onto my ingredients list so I would have to call my mother and ask her to go dig the recipe out of her binder to tell me how many eggs were supposed to be in this cake.
What is anise cake you might ask? Well, it’s cake that has a little bit of that Sambuca, black licorice flavor going on. It’s one of my favorites. I also appreciate that it’s one of the few cakes that I like without frosting.
Another fun thing about the cake is that it’s cut in diamonds. Which isn’t as hard as it sounds. It also gives you an excuse to eat a lot of “end” pieces.
It’s not as hard as it looks, I promise.
This is one of the staple recipes from growing up. I’ve really enjoyed sharing it with people along the way, although I’ve been sad to find out how many people don’t like the flavor of anise. They’re missing out. (That said, some people who don’t really like it still enjoyed the cake.) And one guy told me it tasted almost as good as his grandmother’s, which sounds like the highest compliment you can ever get.
Pink and White Anise Cake
Ingredients
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cups crisco
3/4 cups milk
1-1/2 teaspoons anise
3 eggs
Red food coloring
Powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour a 17 x 11-inch pan
Sift flour three times
Add sifted flour, granulated sugar, and baking powder to mixing bowl
Mix in crisco, milk, and anise and beat well
Add eggs, one at a time, beat until smooth
Pour and spread half of the batter into the prepared pan
Add red food coloring until its a bright shade of pink (approximately 5 drops)
Pour the pink batter on top of the white and spread it evenly with a spoon
Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes clean
Cool the cake and cut it into diamonds
Top generously with powdered sugar and serve
