CakePHP SMTP Connection timed out

I know there is a load of questions about this topic, but still can't figure out what is going wrong.

Here's my code:

                $this->Email->to = 'any@mailadress.com';
                 $this->Email->subject = 'any subject';
                 $this->Email->replyTo = 'noreply@mailadress.com';
                 $this->Email->from = 'Somebody <noreply@mailadress.com>';
                 $this->Email->additionalParams = '-fnoreply@mailadress.com';
                 $this->Email->template = 'my_template';
                 $this->Email->sendAs = 'text';
                 $this->Email->smtpOptions = array(
                     'port'=>'465',
                     'timeout'=>'30',
                     'host' => 'ssl://smtp.googlemail.com', // also tried smtp.gmail.com
                     'username'=>'username',
                     'password'=>'pass',
                     );
                 $this->Email->send();
 

Now this leads to nothing but "Connection timed out: 110". I tried several other mailing services. Always get the connection error.

Help very much appreciated.

---