Gâteau à l'orange (with white starter and yogurt)

When I first made this cake, the Man officially declared it to be the best he ever had. Hard to believe but that's what he said. Since it is easy and healthful, I have made it several times since, varying the ingredients: replacing some of the oil by applesauce (the cake doesn't rise as much), replacing the agave syrup by twice the same amount of sugar (makes the cake a bit lighter), skipping the eggs altogether (makes for a denser cake), using more oil (the cake rises a little more), replacing the yogurt by almond milk (makes for a lighter cake). The texture varies somewhat but the end result remains a very moist cake with a lovely orange flavor. When I was growing up in Paris, a wonderful woman named Micheline worked in our house as a mother's helper. She came from the Berry in central France and had the strongest regional accent I had ever heard. She also had a huge heart and a sunny disposition. Her husband worked at the post office and her little boy was an adorable little rascal who one day - he must have been 6 - decided to drench passers-by in the street below (we were on the 8th floor) using the water hose my mom kept coiled on the balcony for her plants. He had a pretty good aim too! Well anyway, Micheline was a very good cook and she often baked for us a "gâteau à l'orange", basically a pound cake containing equal amounts of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, plus one orange. She put the zest in the batter and poured the juice all over the cake when it came out of the oven. Scrumptious! I made that cake many times back in the days when we had never heard of cholesterol and it was always a huge success. Since the cake is just as good made with more healthful ingredients, now that my local supermarket carries organic oranges (and needs to be encouraged to continue to do so), I see no reason not to indulge again.

Ingredients: 240 g mature white starter 228 g plain (or vanilla) yogurt (I used homemade full-fat yogurt) 30 g almond milk (regular milk would work fine) (depending on the hydration rate of your starter and the thickness of the yogurt, you may want to use a bit more or a bit less) 110 g white whole wheat flour 230 g unbleached all-purpose flour 80 g agave syrup 20 g liquid honey (I would have used 100 g agave syrup but I ran out) 1 orange, untreated, unpeeled, organic if possible, thoroughly washed, then chopped fine (rind and all) in the food processor (cut up the orange first to make sure there are no seeds) the juice of another orange 9 g baking soda 1 pinch of salt Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix the starter, the flours and the yogurt
2. Add milk to adjust the consistency (it should be look like a starter with an 80% hydration rate)
3. Set to rise (the duration of the rise will vary according to the room temperature)
4. When nicely risen, pre-heat the oven at 350º F/177º C
5. Mix in the remaining ingredients, adding the baking soda last and pour into a pre-oiled cake pan (I used a kouglof pan as I like the shape but any deep pan will do. Don't substitute a shallow pan as the cake would end up being too dense)
6. Bake for 50 minutes
7. Let the cake rest 5 minutes before taking it out of the pan and setting it to cool on a rack
8. Drench with orange juice just before serving (if the cake is for grown-ups only, Grand-Marnier, Cointreau or Triple Sec can replace some of the juice).

Enjoy!

This "gâteau à l'orange" goes to Susan, from Wild Yeast for Yeastpotting.