Upside Down Mango Cake

We are a mango loving crazy family, and that includes my mango eating dog who loves to chew on the seed!  End of the mango season coincides with my husband's birthday. So what better way to end the season than make a mango cake? However, mango is one fruit that I normally do not tamper with. That is cook/bake the fruit. At best, I use cubed pieces in trifles or with ice-cream. But this time, I decided to give it a shot and bake a mango dessert!

This is a simple and easy to bake cake. As you can see from the pictures, the result was a moist, super soft and gooey cake with caramel dripping off the top, and off course the heavenly mango pieces baked and soaked in caramel. Husband, family, friends and my dog loved it. Proof of the pudding! :D

You will need:

250 gms flour

200 gms brown sugar

250 gms cooking butter

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla essence

2 cups firm cubed mangos (I used Alphonso mangos)

1/2 cup caramel

For the cake : Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs separately and add in one at a time, continuously beating along with the vanilla. Fold in the flour little at a time till a smooth consistency is formed.

For the caramel : In a heavy bottom pan, place 3/4 cup of white (refined) sugar with 4 tbs of water. Cook on low flame without stirring till the sugar and water are well incorporated. Heat the mixture further till the colour changes to brown. Turn off the gas and let it cool.

Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade. Grease and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Evenly distribute/arrange the mango cubes on the tray. Pour the caramel over the mango ensuring that every bit of the tray base is covered with mango and caramel. On top of this, pour the cake batter and bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 25 minutes or till a knife inserted comes out clean without gooey batter sticking to it. Allow to cool completely before flipping the cake on a flat surface.

Mango Mania: Mango Cheesecake

Ever since my last post on mango gojju, not a day has passed without eating mango in some form or the other. And when mango and cheese is combined, it is a killer combo. Layers of fresh ripe mango pulp, cheese and cottage cheese on a bed of crushed biscuits is just what the family needed as a sinful sweet indulgence on a hot Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients:

Cheese spread - 1 tub (I used Amul creamy cheese)Cream - 100 gms (I used Amul)

Cottage Cheese - 250gms (I used Amul paneer)

Sugar - Half a cup 

Mango puree from 4 ripe mangoes

Gelatin - 1 tbsp (I used Lion vegetarian gelatin)

Hot Water - 1/4 cup

Digestive biscuits - 2 packets (I used Marie biscuit)

Unsalted butter, melted - 75 gm 

Method:

Crush the biscuits in a food processor to form a coarse powder. Add the melted butter and mix well. Press into a spring form pan or a loose bottom dish, or individual glasses. Refrigerate till rest of the cheesecake is ready. 

Blend the mango pulp with sugar and set aside. Add gelatin to hot water till completely dissolved. Add this to the mango puree and stir well. 

Blend together the cheese spread, cottage cheese and cream. To this cheese mixture, add half the mango pulp and beat till well incorporated. 

Pour the mango-cheese mixture over the biscuit layer as a second layer and refrigerate for a about 2 hours. As a third layer, pour the mango pulp gently over the mango-cheese ensuring the layers do not get mixed. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Mango Mania : Maavin Gojju

It’s that time of the year! And my favorite - the KING of fruits is in plenty. Luckily for me, my family is crazy about mangoes so we've been hogging polly/totapuri cut mangoes with salt and chili powder, poori -aam rus, just good old ripe mangoes, Alphonso jam and today the irresistible mango/maavin gojju. 

Maavin gojju is a popular dish in most Kannada homes. It is spicy, tangy and rich in flavor  For this you need the small round variety of ripe mangoes – pairi if possible. Grind together dry roasted urad dal, dry red chilies, dry coconut, jaggery and some tamarind juice. Cook this on low flame and dunk the peeled mangoes in whole. Bring to a boil and finish it with a tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing/asafoetida.

What I love best is the versatility of this gojju – you can have it with steamed rice, chapatti/poori, akki rotti, or as an accompaniment with rasam rice or curd rice, or you can even just slurp up just the gojju in all it’s splendor.

Bite into the gojju covered mango for a beautiful blend of flavors - sweet and pulpy mango with spices and the tangy after taste.