Mango cake

A whole-egg genoise layered with fresh mango and a cream stabilised against the fruit's juice.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains gelatine.

Ingredients

genoise

• 4 eggs, whole
• 130 g caster sugar
• 130 g plain flour
• 40 g butter, melted
• 0.25 teaspoon salt

to finish

• 4 ripe mangoes
• 450 ml double cream, very cold
• 60 g icing sugar
• 5 g gelatine
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons mango purée, for brushing

Method

1. A GENOISE, NOT A CHIFFON. Whole eggs warmed over water and whisked to a ribbon, with melted butter and no oil and no separate meringue. It gives a firmer, drier crumb than the chiffon sponges elsewhere on this site, and a firm dry crumb is exactly what you want under wet fruit -- a chiffon goes sodden within an hour of meeting cut mango.
2. STABILISE THE CREAM WITH GELATINE. Fresh mango sheds juice for as long as it sits there, and plain whipped cream collapses into it overnight. Soften the gelatine in the 3 tablespoons of water, melt it gently, let it cool to lukewarm, and whisk it into the cream when the cream is at soft peaks.
3. Melted gelatine poured into cold cream sets into threads. It must be warm, not hot, and the cream must already be thickening.
4. Genoise: eggs and sugar in a bowl over barely simmering water, whisked until just warm to the finger, then off the heat and whisked 8 to 10 minutes until it trebles and holds a ribbon on the surface for three seconds.
5. Flour and salt sifted over in three goes and folded in. Then a little of the batter stirred into the melted butter, and that mixture folded back -- butter poured straight in sinks and knocks the air out.
6. Into a lined 23 cm tin, baked at 180C for 25 to 28 minutes until it springs back. Cool completely and split across into two layers.
7. Purée one mango. Slice the other three 4 mm thick and lay the slices on paper for 10 minutes to drain.
8. Brush both cut faces of the sponge with the mango purée. That is the only moisture the cake gets and a genoise needs it.
9. Build: bottom layer, a third of the cream, a layer of mango slices, top layer, the rest of the cream over the top and sides.
10. Arrange the remaining mango on top and chill 4 hours before cutting.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes