Summer Mango Cake

I love mangoes. Fresh, dried, pureed, ice cream, as salsa, frozen, on a stick, by the case, however I can get them. I realize that the mangoes we have here in the northern climes are not in the same league as say, from the islands, the pacific or India. But of the 3 variates I have been able to get my hands on, the common Red from Mexico, the large Haitian, or the so sweet Champagne (at least those are the names I see at the market), I will take any and all. Dried ones, without all the excess sugar and dyes, are my afternoon snack of choice. There are times that I have so much of them that I swear my skin is going to turn yellow.

When the fruit & veg market that I frequent had them on sale (5 for 5!) I couldn't resist as they are normally closer to 2$. They ran that sale for 2 weeks and there were mangoes everywhere in the kitchen. I wanted to try something new with them and decided on making a curd. There were some technical difficulties as I worked to get the right consistency, thickness and flavor, but the end result was well worth it. And what better way to show off a delectable mango curd than with a buttery cake, but beware the hot temperature of the day you make this as my frosting was slip sliding around and I had to keep chilling it down.

In honor of two wonderful, amazing women who had birthdays this last month and for all the ones coming up this month (and yes, I will include mine own in that group!!), here is a delicious summer cake with mango curd.

All-Purpose Butter Yellow Cake with Mango Curd and Butter Frosting

Cake adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
16 tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (the kind in the cold section of the market in 1/2 gal)

350* F

Make sure oven rack is in the middle of the oven and heat to 350*. Lightly spray two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans or one 9 x 13 cake pan, then line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 - 6 mins. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Beat in the vanilla.

Reduce the speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by half of the milk. Repeat with half of the remaining flour and then the remaining milk, and finally the remaining flour.

Give the batter a stir using a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and smooth the top. Drop the pans on the counter a couple of times to remove any large air bubbles. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached, 20 - 25 for rounds, or 25 - 30 for sheet cake. Make sure to gently rotate halfway through baking.

Remove and let cool in the pans for 10 mins on wire racks. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, then flip onto the racks. Remove the parchment paper and flip upright to let cool completely before frosting.

Mango Curd

2 Mangoes, skinned, seed removed
2 eggs
3 yolks
1/2 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

After removing the flesh of the mango from the seed, and skinning, puree until smooth.

Put the eggs, yolks & sugar into a double boiler or a bowl that fits over a pot of water. Whisk together, add in the puree and lemon juice, and then put over simmering water, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula.  When the curd starts to thicken, roughly 5 - 8 minutes, switch back to the whisk, and cook until thick, whisking gently.

Remove from heat, strain into a glass or plastic container and cover surface directly with plastic wrap so that a skin does not form.

Refrigerate for several hours until ready to use.

Quick Butter Vanilla Frosting from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2 tbsp heavy cream (again I used the coconut milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Stir the cream, vanilla and salt together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter on med-high until smooth, 30 - 60 seconds. Reduce speed to med-low and slowly add the confectiners' sugar, beating until smooth, 2 - 5 minutes. Beat in the cream mixture, increase speed to med-high and beat until light and fluffy, 4 - 8 minutes. Chill to workable consistency, soft but not melting.

Putting it all together:

I made this as a 2 layer cake to keep it on the simpler side. Once all your parts are chilled and ready, decide what type of plate you are going to put this on.

Take a small amount of the frosting (about a tablespoon), and put it in the center of the cake plate. Take one of the cakes and turn it top side down and set it on the plate. If you have never done this trick, the frosting keeps the cake from moving around as you are putting everything together.

If you have an off-set spatula it will make the next steps easier. If not, use what you have with no worries.

Starting in the middle of the cake, put a healthy dollop of curd and smooth it out to within a 1/4 inch of the edge of the cake. Decide how much you want to have as your filling, keeping in mind that some will ooze out when the top layer is put on. Another trick that I just learned recently is to take and pipe a 1/4 inch circle of frosting around the edge of the cake and then put your filling in the center. The frosting keeps the filling from oozing out.

Top you filling with the other layer of cake, top side up. If your cakes came out too domed you can always remove that. The best way is with dental floss (UNFLAVORED!!!).

Once your cakes are together, do a crumb layer of frosting. This means to make a thin layer of frosting starting on the sides and then the top. After the crumb layer, build up your frosting on the sides and then the top, smoothing or making patters of your choice.

I had a lot of mangoes, so I took 2 and sliced the halves thinly and then layered the pieces off-set around the bottom to make a nice rim. The top of the cake has additional pieces twisted in half to form further decoration.

Old Fashioned Lemon-Blueberry Icebox Cake

So with all this lovely heat (read, not…) that we are having, I have been trying to come up with things that do not require turning on the oven or stove top. I’m okay with the grill, so that is still happening in our lives, but we have been having a lot of salads and cold veggies with hummus lately.  I have been seeing ideas for no-bake desserts, and had never made an Icebox cake before. So after looking at a beautiful strawberry one from theKitchn, a delectable chocolate wafer cookie one from Smitten Kitchen, and a ginger mascarpone one  plus others from Fine Cooking, I figured I had to try this, and what better day than the 4th of July.

 I decided to do my own take on this recipe, as I had a few food items I had to avoid due to certain people (too many strawberries can set off a migraine in one person, and another doesn’t like chocolate…seriously…makes you question the rightness of the world when someone says they don’t like chocolate!). But everyone agrees on lemon and blueberry, although I thought of another friend who isn’t here this time but can’t have citrus and had a moment of sadness that she couldn’t enjoy all the whipped creamy goodness of this. She, however, would definitely go for the chocolate wafer one.
Most recipes called for whipped cream or pudding/custard, or a combination.  Seeing as how I can no longer fathom the idea of pudding in a box, and I wasn’t about to turn on the stove to make curd, I did actually use a store-bought jar of lemon curd (I know, horror of horrors!). Although if I make this again, I think I will go ahead and make my own curd as I much prefer it. The jar curd is a bit sweet for my tastes, so I cut the amount of sugar that is added to the whipping cream and combined some with the curd to make a lemon cream. I think it could even be less sugar in the future. I also upped the amount of whipped cream to 4 cups from 3 as I was making the lemon cream thinking there would be some left over for other fruit…nope, not a spoonful!

Keep in mind that this is not, repeat NOT, a diet cake. Unless you are doing Atkins and then it might work?!? This is all whipped cream, although you could argue that the graham crackers and fruit keep it kind of healthy, or maybe follow the comment I heard one day that anything eaten standing up doesn’t count in the calorie department. I would skip all that, though, and just enjoy it for what it is: whipped creamy lemony goodness!

The concept of an Icebox cake is that as it sits in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, all those layers of cookie and cream soften and meld together creating a texture not unlike a French éclair or napoleon. My problem with that is that I would rather just eat the cream layers and not have the other part. I was pleasantly surprised when we took this out after 7 hours that the graham layers had softened nicely and thoroughly enjoyed the melding of cake-like layers with the cream and berries. Everyone was ready for dessert which meant a picture never was taken of a cut piece. If that happens again, I think I will just take a picture of the empty plate and crumbs.  As one person put it while licking her fork “Oh, yes, this is my kind of cake”!

Old Fashioned Lemon-Blueberry Icebox Cake

Old Fashioned Lemon-Blueberry Icebox Cake
Loosely adapted from various Icebox Cake recipes

2 pints fresh Blueberries, washed
4 cups whipping cream, divided
½ cup lemon curd
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3 - 4 sleeves graham crackers (24-28 whole crackers)
½ pint raspberries
 Zest of 1 lemon, divided

Using either a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip cream until it is just at the stiff peak stage. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, and whip to combine.

Put 1 ½ cup of the whipped cream into another bowl and fold in the lemon curd to make the lemon cream.

Spread a thin layer of the plain whipped cream on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan or similar sized dish. Put down a layer of 6 graham crackers, 2 going horizontal and 4 going vertical. Cover with a layer of the lemon cream and then a light layer of berries. Layer 6 more graham crackers opposite of the first layer. Cover with plain whipped cream, sprinkle lightly with lemon zest and then berries. Repeat alternating lemon cream, blueberries, crackers and then plain whipped cream. You will end up with four layers of graham crackers. Spread the last of the whipped cream over the top layer, and then decorate with remaining lemon zest, raspberries and a few blueberries.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until the crackers have softened completely.