Mango yoghurt cake with spiced almonds and fresh mangoes

Mangoes! As mush as I like to eat them just as they come, they make such a versatile flavouring ingredient for desserts that it’s hard to stop myself from fantasizing about a mango mousse, a mango soufflé, a mango ice-cream…the list is unending! This however, is a simple mango cake. No exotic ingredients and no gourmet requirements. Just some nice plump mangoes, a whole lot of yoghurt and some crunchy almonds.

The most exciting bit is the icing, which is made from strained yoghurt (hung curd, as we call it). It has an almost cream cheese like consistency; it’s lighter than cream and gives a nice tang to the cake. The cinnamon spiced almonds are a storm…hard to keep them aside till the end (make some extra, just in case you end up eating some before you finally plate up).

It’s a lovely combination of colours and flavours. Try not to miss out any ingredient; the small things make a difference.

Just a word of caution here: I used 3 eggs because the ones I bought were really tiny. You could use 2 eggs if they are large ones. Once you start whisking in the eggs you will know if the batter is going to be too thick (you don’t want to lose the sponginess of the cake). Remember, its 300g of flour (a lot), so use your discretion. If you want to be safe, use 3 medium sized eggs.

Serves: 8-10 people

Prep time: 20 min (plus overnight time to strain yoghurt)

Cooking time: 40-60 min

Ingredients

1kg full cream milk yoghurt
1 cup unsalted butter (can use sunflower oil instead)
250grm caster sugar
3 eggs (tiny to medium sized)
300g all purpose plain flour, sifted with 1tsp baking powder
2 mangoes, flesh cubed
50g slice almonds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Fresh mint sprigs

Method

Pre-work

To make the yoghurt icing, line a large sieve with a clean tea towel and place over a bowl.  Add all of the yoghurt and leave to strain in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight).

Making the cake

Preheat oven to 160˚c.

For the roasted almonds, scatter the sliced almonds onto a baking tray and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden and roasted. Set aside to cool.

Grease and line a 23-25cm cake tin.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until each egg is completely combined. Whisk until fluffy. Stir in half the yoghurt until fully combined. Don’t over mix. Fold in the flour until just combined. Then fold through half the cubed mango, reserving the rest for the top of the cake.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40-60 minutes or until a cake skewer is inserted and comes out clean. Cool in the cake tin for 5 min before cooling on a cake rack.

Icing

Once completely cooled, spread the remainder of the thickened (strained overnight) yoghurt over the top of the cake and scatter with fresh mango cubes, cinnamon roasted almonds and fresh mint sprigs.

Note: Store this cake covered and refrigerated as the yoghurt will begin to sour if left at room temperature (I'm talking about Indian temperatures).