ABC: Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk ‘n’ Honey Sabayon

I have decided to take on a new challenge: The Avid Baker’s Challenge! My friend Hanaa started this group and after months of admiring the treats they make and seeing what was on the schedule for the rest of the year, I decided it was time to join the fun. We are baking from Flo Braker’s stupendous book, Baking for All Occasions. It’s one of the (far too many) books in my collection that I occasionally make something from and think, “The recipes in here are so good, why don’t I make things from it more often?” I also think it’s great that Flo gives all measurements in both weight and volume. I have somewhat recently started weighing pretty much everything and it’s nice when the weight measures are in the book so I don’t have to keep looking at my cheat sheet. The recipe this month is Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake with Milk ‘n’ Honey Sabayon. In the recipe notes, Flo shares that this cake was inspired by a cake from Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola, California. I used to live not far from that bakery, and agree with Flo that it has outstanding treats.



The cake involves a number of steps in preparation (grating chocolate and oranges, juicing oranges for fresh juice, etc.) and quite a few dishes. It was a nice project for a weekend afternoon, not something to bake in a hurry. The recipe was meant to be baked in a ten-inch tube pan with a removable bottom, but since that would yield fourteen to eighteen servings, I cut it in half. I baked the cake in a six-inch pan round pan and four ramekins. I had a little –okay a lot – of trouble getting the cake to come out of the pan neatly, so sadly I do not have a lovely full-cake picture to show. I also had a bit of trouble with the Sabayon. I didn’t think to look up what a Sabayon was before I made this recipe so I’d have a better idea what it should turn out like; according to this link it is “a light custard, which has been whipped to incorporate large amounts of air.” Mine was sort of airy, but didn’t really hold. The honey/orange flavor of the creamy sauce was incredible, though, especially on a light cake, which did turn out delightfully airy and tasted wonderful.



I must say, though everything didn’t go perfectly, I had a good time making this cake and it really did present a bit of a challenge for me, which I enjoy. This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 5 for Effort, for an EDR of 1.6. This group is not posting recipes, but you may stop by Hanaa’s site to learn more about The Avid Baker’s Challenge and see the other bakers' links.