Well, it's definitely winter here now - temperatures have been around 3-5C for the past few days, which is far too chilly for my liking, but at least not as bad as last year when we'd had snow by now! (I like temperatures around 26C!!! Fat chance, even in summer!)
Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to make a cheery, sunny cake to help me remember back to the long distant times when I wasn't arriving at work in the dark and leaving work in the dark. It needed to be an easy cake to make, and casting my mind back I remembered that I had made a successful upside down cake with this delicious Apricot Butter Cake recipe from the ever-reliable BBC Good Food website. Time for a re-make.
For some reason I had thought it would be a good idea to buy tinned mangoes, and their cheery yellow colour appealed for the base of this cake. I also had a couple of peaches hanging around that were not at their finest point for eating, so I added those to the mango. So instead of using the specified 350g apricots I used 1 large (400g) tin of mangoes in light syrup and 2 slightly-past-their-best peaches. I followed the recipe as given, but baked in an 8"/20cm square cake tin rather than a 9" round. This gave a deep, generous looking cake, but I think next time I'll bake in a 9" square, and use more fruit so that you get a higher fruit:cake ratio. After all, the delicious soft bit under the fruit is one of the nicest bits of the cake.
The cake was great - really moist and buttery and just as good as I remembered it. I have learnt though, that mango is not the most successful of tinned fruit and I don't think I'll bother to buy it again. It wasn't unpleasant, it just didn't really taste of anything at all. Mango is subtle at the best of times, and tinned clearly isn't the best of times! But just look how sunny that cake is - you can't fail to feel cheered by such a pretty cake can you!
9 comments:
Such a bright, cheerful cake- the perfect antithesis to these cold, dark winter days. And my favourite bit is that soft, slightly gooey part just under the fruit too!
how wonderful!... the yellow mango is just the perfect antidote to these dull cold days... lovely x
This would certainly cheer me up - it sounds a lovely combination of fruit, as well as looking so good. Perhaps try it with fresh mangoes?
That's a truly cheerful cake - just what's needed right now with sleet and snow in the forecast. I know what you mean about tinned mangoes but, despite previous disappointments, I bought another can this week. It's a winter thing.
The cake does look very sunny indeed and conjures up images of a tropical island!
Looks wonderfuly bright and cheerful. I know what you mean about it being chilly. I'm walking round with a hot water bottle!
The BBC good food website is awesome, isn't it....as is this happy looking cake
What a perfect afternoon treat with a warming up of tea. Yum!
What a Pretty cake and sunny enough to lift anyone's spirits.:)
I wonder if a splash of lime juice in with the fruit would bring out the flavour? I bought a bunch of mangoes the other day but I made chutney and salsa with them. Never thought to put them in a cake.
Post a Comment