Czech Chocolate Spice Cake (Perník)
I’d invited my mother-in-law to come speak at Friendly Club, which is a small group of ladies who get together once a month to socialize and eat dessert. I was hostess that month and knew the ladies would enjoy hearing about Carrol’s recent heritage tour of the Czech Republic.
I usually serve apple crisp when I host, but thought Czech desserts would be more appropriate this time. I wanted to bake something other than kolaches, so I searched for and found this chocolate spice cake.
I wasn’t sure about using anise, since I don’t care for the flavor, but the spices weren’t overpowering. The ladies enjoyed it!
Czech Chocolate Spice Cake (Perník)
A traditional Czech spice cake.
Equipment
- 9×13 baking dish
- Coffee bean grinder or spice grinder
Ingredients
- ¼ tsp ground cloves or 10 whole
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp ground allspice or 10 whole
- 2 anise stars
- ½ tsp whole fennel seed
- ½ tsp whole anise seeds
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted to remove clumps)
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup oil
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup walnuts
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place all the spices in coffee or hand grinder. Grind into a powder.
- Mix spices with remaining ingredients (except the walnuts) until batter is smooth. Stir in walnuts.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Let cool and top with sifted powdered sugar or chocolate frosting.
