Miami Mango Cake

This go around I did want to use a fruit in baking that I had not tried yet, which was mango.  I was not even sure it was the right season.  After some research I found that March is the start of the season for Mexico, but May is the start of the season in Florida.

When I came across this recipe, the first thing that surprised me was that the cake has no butter in it. Also, it had quite a bit of mango.  This let me to believe that there was an error in the recipe.  In my mind I pictured this soupy batter that would never even bake up to a solid mass.

I forged ahead and popped the pan into the oven to bake.  I kept peeking through the window on the oven door to see the progress of it.  It actually got quite brown, most likely due to all that fruit.

All in all, the finished product is a wonderfully moist cake.  Even though the walnuts are optional they added another layer of texture in the bite.  Also, the sweet cream cheese icing really pairs well with the cake.

Some days your instinct is not on the right track and this was one of those times.  The cake was a hit at the luncheon, so it will be something that I will make again.

Now I am off to make 12 dz cookies for donations, so I will be baking up a storm!

Miami Mango Cake
adapted from Three Guys from Miami

Ingredients/Cake
2 1/2 cups mashed/pureed mangoes  (approx. 3 large mangoes)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp natural mango extract (I added this into the recipe, so it is optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients/Frosting
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
8 ounces of cream cheese

Ingredients/Topper
12-15 walnut halves
1/2 batch of above frosting
1/2  cup or more powdered sugar
2-4 drops of orange food coloring

To make the cake, grease the inside of a 9X13 inch pan.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl cream together the sugar and the eggs.  Then beat in the extracts.  Add the mango in 1/2 cup intervals, beating after each addition. 

Then, using a wooden spoon, fold in the sifted ingredients until no dry streaks remain.  If you opted for nuts, stir them in at this point.  Pour the batter into the pan.  It will be easy to pour and will even out on its own.  Bake until a tester comes out clean, which is about 35-40 minutes.  Let cool in pan.

Take out a medium size bowl for the frosting.  Beat together the butter, vanilla extract and cream cheese. Once blended, sift confectioners sugar into mixture and then beat again until smooth and creamy.  Then frost the top of the cooled cake.

For the orange/walnut topper, make 1/2 a batch of the frosting and beat in orange food coloring.  Then sift in another 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar and beat again.  If it is not your desired consistency or color continue to add drops of food coloring and tablespoons of powdered sugar, beating after each addition. Mixture should be smooth and creamy with no streaks of food coloring or powdered sugar.

Cut the cake into serving pieces and then pipe a swirl on the top center of each piece. Place one walnut on top, pressing down lightly.  Then you are ready to serve.
               **LAST YEAR: Shrimp Cakes**

Oasis Tropical Mini Loaves

There are a lot of recipes out there that state "best recipe" or the "ultimate recipe".  Usually when I see that, I think that to the person that created or made the recipe believes that.  It is not that a poll of the world's opinion deemed it as such.

There are a lot of people in this world. As a food blogger, I am aware that most likely there are people out there that don't like my recipes.  However, I do not ponder on that, we can't please everyone.  I am pondering on the fact there are some people out there that do like them-but I would never go as far to say any of my recipes are the best or the ultimate.

Now this particular recipe is from a bed and breakfast.  The cookbook states that at the bed and breakfast this is their most requested recipe. "Most requested" is far more believable than the "best", so I decided to try it.

  One odd thing was that it called for 3 1/2 eggs.  In scaling down recipes, my method for 1/2 an egg is to crack the egg into a bowl and whisk lightly.  Then measure out 2 tablespoons for use in the recipe because one egg usually measures 1/4 cup.  The recipe also suggest using applesauce for a low fat version, but I used the canola oil. 

Other than that, I was very well pleased with the flavor and happy to bring you this recipe.  The batter, when baked, transforms into a moist, sweet bread flavored with cinnamon.  If that was not enough, then consider that it is loaded with mango, papaya, pineapple, macadamia nuts and apricots. The dried fruits are specialty ingredients, but after tasting these little loaves, I felt that those ingredients were well worth the trip to obtain and the expense.

If you do decide to make these, you may want to try your own variation of fruits since the batter is such a good base to start with.

One important point about this recipe is that the batter cannot sit, it has to go right into the oven.  This is because the ingredients start reacting with each other as soon as they are mixed. Doubling the recipe is not a good idea, if you do not have enough pans to bake all at once.  This recipe makes 5 loaves that are 6X3X2.  I used 6 loaf pans (steel rod connected) measuring 5X3X1 1/2 and had some batter leftover to make 2 jumbo muffins.

Oasis Tropical Mini Loaves
courtesy of Recipes from American Country Inns

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots or raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried papaya
1/4 cup chopped dried ginger (or any dried fruit, I used dried pineapple)
1/4 cup chopped dried mango
1/4 cup shredded coconut (I skipped this ingredient)
3/8 cup or 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup cubed mango
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 1/4 cups canola oil (or applesauce for low fat)
3 1/2 eggs (room temp-see comments above concerning 1/2 an egg measurement)
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbs baking powder
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour

Prepare the loaf pans by greasing inside the cavity and line the bottoms with parchment paper.  Grease the face up side of the parchment paper.  Then dust all insides of the pans with flour.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla.  Then stir in the cubed mango and crushed pineapple. Set aside.

Take another bowl and sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon together.  Then add the dried fruits, coconut and chopped nuts.  Make sure that all these add ins are evenly mixed in.

Pour the dry mixture into the wet and stir just until no more dry streaks remain.  Fill each loaf pan equally with batter and place all inside the oven to bake at one time.  The loaves are done when the top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean.  Baking time should be about 30-45 minutes.  My batch took about 33 minutes.

Remove from oven and place pan(s) on rack to cool for about 5 minutes.  Then invert onto rack and take off parchment paper.  Flip loaves back over to finish cooling.  Loaves can be frozen up to one month.