Take a trip to the tropics with this simple Mango Coconut Cake. The not too sweet coconut cake layers are sandwiched with chopped mangoes and topped with crème fraîche. It’s a light and bright dessert that makes me think I’m eating a scone in cake form.

The one drawback to this recipe is that it doesn’t keep well past the first day, due to the crumbly texture of the cake. It’s best served as soon as possible after covering with the crème fraîche.

Mango Coconut Cake

Ingredients:

140ml sour cream
250g/9oz/1 cup caster sugar
175ml/6 fl oz vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
250g/9oz/1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
85g/3oz/1 cup desiccated coconut
Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
50g/20z sweetened coconut shreds
1 ripe mango
500ml crème fraîche
Additional mango slices to serve, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180℃/350℉.

2. Grease and line the base of two 20 cm/8 inch cake tins with greaseproof or parchment paper.

3. Mix the sour cream, sugar, oil, eggs, flour, baking powder, desiccated coconut and lemon rind until smooth.

4. Divide the mixture between the two tins. Bake for 45 minutes until golden and firm.

5. Leave the tins to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

6. Peel off the lining paper then slice each cake in half horizontally.

7. Peel the mango, slice it away from the stone and finely chop the flesh in a food processor.

8. Lightly toast the sweetened coconut in the oven for about 5 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Place mango evenly between the cake layers. Cover top of cake with crème fraîche and sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Serve with mango slices, if you like.

Serves 10

Recipe from BBC Good Food Magazine

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