Mango Fresh Cream Cake

MIL, Hub and Yi's birthdays fall within 3 days consecutively, according to the Lunar calendar. We've become jaded with cakes recently, having celebrated many birthdays at the end the year. I thought of making my bountiful fresh fruit cream cake but the price of berries is just too high. And then I saw my favorite fruit, mangoes (well, they tie with durians as my fav) at only RM8 per kilo. I don't know of anyone who doesn't like mangoes so mango cake it was. I didn't want a mango cake that when sliced will separate into layers because the mangoes don't stick. I don't like spongy mousse either. I was concerned about fresh dairy cream melting in our tropical island heat. I wanted something in between mousse and ordinary fresh cream and it had to hold up to the weather yet not be firm.

In the end, I made a very light mousse, so light you can't tell it's mousse. Instead of just scattering diced mangoes over the fresh cream, I added a cup of mango puree and covered the whole cake with the mango puree cream. A cake this luxurious will cost a bomb from the made-to-order home-bakers. As it is, this 23 cm/10" cake cost only about RM40 to make. And the taste? Just imagine it for yourself: soft moist sponge layers sandwiched with mangoey fresh cream and mango bits, full of flavor and taste.

The mangoes I used were the yellow-skin Filipino mangoes. They are quite a good substitute for the best mango--the Luzon mango--although not as rich in flavor or color. It was hard to fold the mangoes because I didn't cut them thin enough. Check out the mango cheesecake I made with apple mangoes; they folded better.



Mango Fresh Cream Cake
1 x 10" sponge cake, cut into 3 layers

Filling
700 ml fresh dairy whipping cream
1 egg yolk
8 T castor sugar
1 cup diced mangoes, pureed
2 pieces gelatine leaves
150 oz fresh dairy whipping cream, very well chilled

2 cups diced mangoes
extra sliced mangoes for decoration

1. Put 150 ml of fresh cream into a small pot. Soak the gelatine leaves briefly in water and when it just turns soft, add it to the cream in the pot. Add the egg yolk and 3 tablespoon of sugar and stir with a small whisk over low heat until the gelatine has melted. Take off fire and stir in the mango puree. Let cool and put into freezer until the edge or side is set and the middle very thick and syrupy.

2. Whisk the remaining cream with the remaining 5 T of sugar (you may need more; we're on a low-sugar diet) until it just becomes stiff. Now add the nearly-set mango puree and stir through the cream quickly to blend. Quickly stir in the diced mangoes.

3. Working quickly, sandwich the cake layers with the filling and cover the sides and top of the cake too. Decorate with extra mango slices, glaze the mangoes with diluted piping jelly or apricot jam and put cake to chill for at least 4 hours.