Italian Anisette Cake

Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Mom's Scratch Anisette Cake is an all-made-from-a-scratch cake I grew up with and was a staple in our home served with demitasse coffee just about every Sunday for dessert.

Anisette is a very strong flavoring that resembles black licorice in taste and I just love the aroma of this homemade cake baking.

The cake was always served plain, mostly baked in a bundt pan back in the vintage days of the 1960s which was a huge craze in those days.

This is a bundt cake mom made using all pantry ingredients with anisette flavor was my Grandmother's recipe originally from Rome, Italy she adapted it as I have over the years.

Dad even enjoyed the leftover with his morning cup of coffee as he read the daily newspaper, the smell, and the taste of this cake were the best memories of this cake.

This old-fashioned basic recipe can be flavored any way you like, the cake is plain until you add the anise flavorings so if you're a fan and found this, you'll love the cake if not you can add anything you like to the batter!

If you are a fan of anisette flavoring like our family, you may also like to try Italian Anisette Biscotti, another delicious cookie we always had in the cookie jar.

Read through the tips and suggestions, this will be the only cake recipe made from scratch you'll ever need, and if you're not a baker try the "Doctored Cake Mix Anisette Cake" version.


pound cake anisette flavor made from scratch





anisette cake made from scratch with Italian black coffee


Easy Step By Step for Making Anisette Cakes Made from Scratch

  1. preheat the oven and flour and grease a cake pan ( a bundt pan is what mom used)
  2. always cream the sugar and butter until light around 3 minutes
  3. add the rest of the ingredients and beat again for 2 more minutes
  4. bake in a prepared pan
  5. cool completely before frosting or dusting with powdered sugar




Tips:



  1. Change the flavoring to lemon, orange, and almond extracts (use lemon zest and orange zest with those flavorings also)
  2. Add nuts if desired walnuts, pistachios
  3. Add coconut and chocolate chips to the batter
  4. In a hurry used canned frosting and add extract to taste
  5. Any kind of pan can be used not just a bundt pan, baking time will vary
  6. Always insert a toothpick or use a piece of spaghetti in the center to see if the cake comes out clean
  7. If using a convection oven mode, cakes bake better with shallow sides like a 13 x 9 pan
  8. This cake can be served with fresh fruits and whipped cream as an alternative to frosting
  9. Make sure you cool the cake completely before frosting it
  10. Always preheat the oven no matter which method
  11. Grease and flour whatever pan you decide to use or line it with parchment paper
  12. never use alcohol it will evaporate with no flavoring use only pure anise extract


anisette cake batter


Ingredients You Will Need (refer to the printable card below for measurements)

  • flour
  • baking powder
  • butter
  • sugar
  • eggs
  • whole milk
  • anise extract (use only extract) or use lemon extract with 1 tablespoon zest, orange extract with zest, or almond flavoring
  • vanilla
  • pinch of salt

prepared pans for anisette cake


More Cakes To Try


Sour Cream Coffee Cake Cupcakes

Blueberry Cake Mix Cake

Spanish Bar Cake


bundt pan with anisette cake batter


Pin for later





Vintage Cakes


We love old-fashioned vintage cakes has all the simple ingredients mom always had on hand.


Milk, flour eggs, butter, and anise flavoring ( use extract not imitation or alcohol) are all must-haves in the house to make this anisette cake.


Again you can use this batter as a basic recipe for any cake flavoring,.


It's perfect with any cup of coffee and don't forget the Sambuca for the coffee, that was always on the table along with a bowl of sugar cubes.


A memorable cake we will always enjoy thinkng of mom and grandma in the kitchen baking on a Sunday morning.


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Italian
Yield: 15
Author: Claudia Lamascolo
Mom's Scratch Anisette Cake

Mom's Scratch Anisette Cake

This is a bundt cake mom made using all simple pantry ingredients with anisette flavor. A dessert cake is often served with a cup of demitasse coffee on Sunday in our Italian home.
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min

Ingredients

  • Mom's Scratch Anisette Cake Recipe
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon anise extract or more if you like very strong flavors  (use only extract) or use lemon extract with 1 tablespoon zest, orange extract with zest , or almond flavoring
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • Note: more use anisette liquor 1 tablespoon not extract

Instructions

  1. Heavily grease and flour in a cake pan.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Cream the sugar and butter for at least 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the milk, eggs, and flavorings.
  5. Beat the flour next with all the rest of the ingredients for two minutes.
  6. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake for around 45 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean.
  7. Cool either dust with powdered sugar or use a thin drizzle of thin powdered sugar and water frosting over the top.
  8. For Doctored Cake Mix Version:
  9. 1 package of yellow cake mix plus use the eggs, oil, and water called for on the cake mix box
  10. 1 tablespoon vanilla
  11. 1 tablespoon anise extract
  12. Mix to package instructions, cool and frost with powdered sugar and water to make a thin icing, and add a little bit of anise extract for flavoring or dust with powdered sugar.

Notes

Tips:


  1. Change the flavoring to lemon, orange, and almond extracts (use lemon zest and orange zest with those flavorings also)
  2. Add nuts if desired walnuts, pistachios
  3. Add coconut and chocolate chips to the batter
  4. In a hurry used canned frosting and add extract to taste
  5. Any kind of pan can be used not just a bundt pan, baking time will vary
  6. Always insert a toothpick or use a piece of spaghetti in the center to see if the cake comes out clean
  7. If using a convection oven mode, cakes bake better with shallow sides like a 13 x 9 pan
  8. This cake can be served with fresh fruits and whipped cream as an alternative to frosting
  9. Make sure you cool the cake completely before frosting it
  10. Always preheat the oven no matter which method
  11. Grease and flour whatever pan you decide to use or line it with parchment paper
  12. never use alcohol it will evaporate with no flavoring use only pure anise extract




Pin for later





More Cakes We Love


Hot Milk Cake

Sour Milk Cake

Pistachio Cake


homemade anisette cake made from scratch in a bundt pan


7 comments

  1. I definitely love the taste and aroma of anise! This is a cake for me :-))

    ReplyDelete
  2. This cake is worth the baking. So moist and is perfect with my coffee!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks delicious! I look forward to making it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the flavors in the cake and the texture looks fantastic. Something new to try. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This cake recipe is so wonderful. So tasty and a lovely comfort dessert.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It seems that none of the commenters could have followed this recipe because the flavorings are excessive. I followed the recipe and I was a bit leery about 1 tablespoon of extracts, but I used that measurement and sure enough the cake is so over powering. I'm wondering if 1 teaspoon was the appropriate measurement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess then it should be to taste, we prefer a strong flavor of anisette, I am sorry it seems too much and it wasn't to your taste. Appreciate your comment. My rule of thumb with measuring extracts is if you can't smell it in the batter and not fragrant it's not enough. Anisette extract is very pungent if you're not a huge fan I would definitely use less. Thanks again!

      Delete

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