Eggless Chocolate Mango Marble Cake

Chocolate and mango are on the top of my list of favorite flavors and they pair up beautifully too. This was the second dish we baked as part of the Homebaker's Challenge and the recipe was chosen by Sangeetha of Spicy Treats.

We had two recipes to chose from, with or without eggs and I went eggless this time. I usually prefer baking with eggs but this recipe did not disappoint. The cake was moist and the  two flavors really stood out. Like most eggless cakes this one too had a dense crumb, but the taste more that compensated for it.

The only change I made was adding a little bit of coffee to the chocolate batter and that really helped to enhance the chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Mango Marble Loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

11/2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar

5 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup mango pulp

1/4 milk

1/4 cup buttermilk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease and line a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

Mix the cocoa powder with 3-4 tbs of warm water and keep aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.

In another bowl mix together the sugar, oil, vanilla, mango pulp, milk and buttermilk.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold gently until well combined.

Divide the batter into two and gently fold in the cocoa mixture into one half.

Pour the two batters alternately into the prepared pan and run a knife through the batter to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until done.

Mango Strawberry Carrot Smoothie

I have been making smoothies everyday for the last couple of years. Anushka and I, have a smoothie daily for our  mid morning snack and it's the only thing she will have without a fuss.

Smoothies are the perfect way to include a good serving of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet, especially for kids. They are healthy, refreshing and so filling. Use ripe, sweet fruits and fresh vegetables and mix and match them to get various flavors, colors and textures. Makes a wonderful healthy dessert too.

I always try to add vegetables to my smoothies, about a third of the amount of fruits. I have tried a lot of combinations and this is one of my favorites. Use tender sweet carrots and sweet mangoes and strawberries and you'll have a great tasting drink.

Mango Strawberry Carrot Smoothie

Ingredients:
pulp of two mangoes
8 strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 big carrot, washed and peeled and chopped
1/2 cup plain yogurt
sugar/honey/ any other sweetener as needed (I usually avoid this)
cold water as needed

Method:
Take all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add sugar if needed and add enough water to get the required consistency and blend again. Serve immediately.

Mango Cream Cake

It was Manoj's birthday yesterday, time for yet another celebration. Though the day went by as usual, we had a few friends over for dinner. I cooked a simple meal and of course there was cake for dessert.

The last cakes I baked were for Anushka's birthday and there were a lot of sleepless nights and fussing and swearing involved, so when I asked Manoj what kind of cake he wanted, the only thing he asked was to keep it simple :).

Mangoes are everywhere now and the ones I bought this weekend were so juicy and sweet, they seemed perfect for a cake. I decided to stay away from spatulas and icing bags and to just keep things really simple. Once the layers were baked and cooled, it just took a few minutes and the cake was ready and I loved the way it looked.

I have been looking for a good vanilla cake recipe to use with such cream cakes, one that uses oil so that its moist even straight out of the fridge and one that's not too sweet. I did not find one so I tried out this cream cake from Sky High. It uses heavy cream instead of butter, it's light and it's delicious and so moist, just what I was looking for. This recipe makes three layers, but I used only two. If using all the three layers, you will have to make some more of the filling, just double or increase the quantities by 50%.

Mango Cream Cake

Cake:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups cake flour

3 3/4 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 1/8 cups)

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolk

3 tbs buttermilk

Method:

Grease and line three 8" pans with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and keep aside.

Combine the cream and vanilla in a large bowl and whip until soft peaks begin to form.

Reduce the speed gradually to low and beat in the sugar, but do not whip until stiff.

Add the whole eggs and egg yolks and whip until the batter forms soft peaks.

Sift about a third of the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in by hand. Repeat 2 more times until all of the flour mixture has been added. Finally fold in the buttermilk.

Divide the batter among the three pans. 

Bake the cake layers for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert them onto wire racks. Carefully peel of the parchment paper and allow to cool completely.

Sugar Syrup

Ingredients:

2 tbs sugar

1/2 cup water

Method:

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar has dissolved. Keep aside to cool.

Mango Cream

Ingredients:

1 tbs water

1 1/2 tsps gelatin

1 cup mango puree

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 - 4 tbs sugar, as needed depending on the sweetness of the mangoes

Mangoes, Berries and Chocolate Shavings for topping 

Ingredients:

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and keep aside for 5 minutes for the gelatin to bloom.

Take the cream and vanilla extract in a chilled bowl and sprinkle sugar over it. Whip until it forms stiff peaks.

Heat the gelatin for a few seconds in the microwave or on a double boiler until clear and melted.

Stir the gelatin into the mango puree. Fold in the whipped cream into the mango.

Store in the fridge until the cream thickens and almost sets.

To Assemble the cake:

Level the layers if needed. Brush one cake layer with the sugar syrup until moist.

Spread half of the mango cream over the layer. Moisten the other cake layer with sugar syrup and place on top of the cream. Spread the remaining cream over the cake.

Top with fruits.

Refrigerate covered for a few hours and serve.

Aamrakhand..Mango Shrikhand

Belated Gudi Padwa and Ugadi wishes to everyone! We have always had Shrikhand Puri for lunch on Gudi Padwa, it's my moms ritual and one we absolutely loved. She would bring a big tub of Kesar Shrikhand from Saroj, the very popular sweet shop in Chembur. I will never forget its rich luscious taste and sneaking into the kitchen every chance I got and gulping big spoonfuls of it. I have not come across any other brand that I really like, so for the last few years that I've been away from home I've always made some shrikhand for Gudi Padwa. This year I made aamrakhand or mango shrikhand and it made a perfect dessert for the special day.

I used canned mango puree but you can also use fresh mangoes. This recipe is just a basic guideline, all the ingredients can be adjusted according to your taste. Use really thick yogurt, I used greek yogurt that I hung for a few hours to drain any whey. Adding too much puree though will affect the consistency of the shrikhand. I have added a lot of puree here since I wanted the mango to really stand out. So it was not as firm as shrikhand should be, but it was very 'mango-ey' and thats exactly what I was looking for. Finally adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of the mango and your needs. A delicious dessert ready in a few easy steps!

Aamrakhand

Ingredients:
2 cups hung yogurt
1 1/2 cups mango pulp
1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cardamom powder  

Method:

Now this is really simple. Just whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and well combined. Refrigerate for a couple of hours for the flavors to mingle. Serve with puris or chapatis or as dessert.

Mango Pudding

The mango season is here and I just cannot resist buying a few every time I visit the supermarket. The wonderful aroma of ripe mangoes, just draws me towards them. I really miss the Alphonso mangoes though, nothing compares to its taste but hey, something is better than nothing and I'm determined to enjoy the fruit as long as its in season. 

The last batch of mangoes I bought were the best so far, they were bright yellow, juicy and so sweet, a pudding seemed like a great idea. After hunting for a while, I found this recipe at Flavor Explosions.

The pudding was a delight, tasted heavenly. The recipe was quick n easy and I didn't make any changes, but here it is anyway. Adjust the sugar according to the sweetness of your mangoes. I used fat-free evaporated milk and I think it could do with a little less amount of gelatin than mentioned for a better texture, so I've made the change below. Everything else was just perfect, I'm definitely gonna be making this often. The below recipe would make about 10 servings.