1-2-3-4 White Wine Cake and Alois Lageder Pinot Bianco

Recently, a good friend of mine gave me a recipe for a white wine cake. The presence of white wine in a cake was intriguing and since I had some eggs in the refrigerator that were close to their expiration date, I decided to try the recipe right away.

Making the cake was as easy as counting 1-2-3-4. Mix 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and 4 eggs. Then add 1 cup of white wine, 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 4 teaspoons of baking powder. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F et voilà!



Wondering which white wine I should use, I searched the web and found a recipe that seemed to indicate that this kind of cake originated in Alsace. The recipe recommended to use a Edelzwicker wine. Edel means noble and zwicker means blend so Edelzwicker is usually a blend of two to three noble Alsatian varietals such as Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, and Sylvaner. It is actually a rarity in Alsace where almost all the wines are varietal wines. The wine is usually used for cooking or mixed with cassis liqueur and drank as an aperitif.

I did not have any Edelzwicker wine so I used a Alto Adige Pinot Bianco from Alois Lageder, which, I think, was close enough. We drank the remaining of the wine with the cake that I served with a red berry sauce made of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. The cake was light and fluffy and the wine was rather pleasant and a good match for the cake and the slightly acidic sauce. The nose was mild, mineral, with notes of apple, and the palate was light- to medium-bodied with a crisp and fresh aftertaste.



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