Often it’s hard to make a good match between Sauternes and dessert. I took a bottle of Sauternes to dinner at a friend’s house and the hostess had made an orange cake (with lemon) and it wasn’t too sweet. The flavor of the Sauternes basically exploded, it was really magnificent with the cake. This was a good Sauternes but the orange notes really vibrated with similar notes in the wine that would have been much less noticeable without.
Needed more than a half hour as the inside wasn’t fully cooked. Oddly, my cake tester came out clean but maybe I didn’t test close enough to the center.
Still, the sides of the cake were delicious so I"ll definitely give it another go. A moist dense, flavorful cake. As you say, a good Autumn/Winter choice.
thanks for this recipe. I decided to give a go today. My result was similar to Jay’s (wooden tester came out clean, but seemed overly moist). Anyway, it’s resting overnight, as you prescribe.
My first go with this and I’ll adjust (if necessary) based on tomorrow’s showing.
I did pre-heat the over for 45 minutes, btw.
My altitude could have something to do with it, too: 1955 meters above sea-level.
Interesting, it seems I have to re-cook the orange cake in the coming days for possible adjustment of the recipe. But I think not more than 10min additional cooking time. On the other hand, a german friend re-cooked it several times and didn`t complain.
After letting it rest a day, it’s actually dry, not wet, that’s the issue. But I think that’s a function of our altitude. I will consider slightly less flour next time and/or adding a little baby food (always seems to help the moisture in cakes at 2000 meters). Outside of the moisture issue, it’s a great recipe. I added some Penzey’s Spices Orange Peel (dried) on top of the cake before baking it, and I like the crunch/texture it added (not to mention the flavor, too).