Today I got a big surprise. A DHL courier yellow truck pulled up in front of our house and dropped a package by the door. Every other day, it's only Amazon who delivers to our doorstep, so DHL threw us off!! After the mandatory 2 hrs quarantine-at-porch method, when I brought in the huge envelope, the sender's address read Harper Collins India.
Of course the kids were too excited, "Maybe your book", they said. Since the book release date has now been pushed to August due to lock-down in India, I wasn't too hopeful. Yet, I had this sick feeling in the stomach. I had not seen the book and cover in print yet and thought everything must have gone wrong at the printing press!!
I took deep breaths and acted calm while the girls lapsed into due criticism and lecture about excessive plastic waste and blah, blah. I mean seriously? Here your Mom is dying and there you are thinking of plastic!! Anyway they finally opened the packaging and the cover looked so beautiful. However instead of letting me savor the moment, they excitedly flipped the pages, looking for guess what -- The Acknowledgement section. Now, finally they have lost interest and handed it over to me.
I cannot dare to open and read it. Not now. But I feel a deep love for the book -- for all 260 pages of it, for the story that unfolds in those pages.Like I am its mother and if anyone criticizes it, I might just bite them, so be aware!
A cake looks like the right thing for today and since I don't have one, I might as well write about the cake we had last week!
I love simple cakes with chunks of real fruits and low on added sugar. Those are the only ones I can bake. Any cake recipe that starts with a sentence like "Separate the egg white and beat to a stiff peak" does not hold my attention. If you bake one of those for me, I will be too glad.
But ahem, if I have to bake them, Lordie help me and the family. This delicious mango cake is just the kind I love, a very easy and simple recipe with less sugar and lots of fresh mangoes. I loved it from the very beginning. The kids who are more fond of the fancy layered cakes, were a little suspicious but with the frosting done, they were eager to take more bites. Finally they too agreed that it was a delicious cake. This cake tastes even better the next day after a night in the refrigerator.
Original Recipe from Taste of Home
Easy Fresh Mango Cake
Dry Ingredients
AP Flour -- 1 Cup + 4 Tbsp
Baking powder -- 1.5 tsp
Salt -- 1/2 tsp
Make Wet Ingredients
Sugar -- 3/4th Cup
Canola oil -- 2/3 Cup
Egg -- 2
Spices
Ground cinnamon -- 1/4th tsp
Ground nutmeg -- 1/4th tsp
Mangoes and Nuts
Chopped peeled mango -- 1 Cup
Chopped pecans -- 1/4th Cup
For frosting
Whipping cream or ready made cool whip
How I Did it
In a Mixer jar/Blender jar/Vitamix/Nutribullet, put the sugar and egg until well blended. Next add the oil and give it a good whirr until sugar, oil and eggs has blended nicely. This is the wet ingredient.
In another wide mouthed bowl, add the dry ingredients.
Sieve the flour.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. A little ginger juice or dry ginger powder is a good addition if you like ginger.
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix well with a flat spatula.
Fold in mango and pecans.
Preheat oven to 375 F (190.556 C)
Grease a 8" round cake tin generously with canola oil. Pour the cake batter into the tin. Tap the side gently to spread the batter uniformly.
Bake the cake for about 30-35 minutes. Check with a toothpick inserted to see that it is done.
Cool and then decorate with a layer of cool whip or any whipped topping on the surface. Refrigerate covered before serving.
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This is looks awesome and just my kind of baking. Don't have fresh mango, can I use mango pulp? Thanks
ReplyDeleteNope. Pulp won't work. Mango in can might
DeleteBM
...but mango pulp gently folded into whipped topping, or poured as a sauce over a slice, would also be delicious!
DeleteI did not even reach the recipe part and already started typing my comment. I feel so happy for this book. I don't know if I can claim to be a 'Mashi' of this book but my level of excitement can surely match to that of a new Mashi. I have always been fond of your writing more than your recipes. If you ask me honestly whom I would choose the storyteller Sandeepa or Recipe Sandeepa, I would be bias towards the former. Therefore, I am super duper excited to pre-book this and spend my remaining quarantine days reading your book. All the best, I am confident this would become a bestseller.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS!!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read the new book once it comes out here!
BIG hugs and loads of best wishes!!
Totally agree with Balaka Basu mam
ReplyDeleteLove the story teller in you
I love no frill cakes too
But I use a pressure cooker
Will that do ?
কী ভালো দেখতে হয়েছে বইখানা! অসংখ্য অভিনন্দন বং মম।
ReplyDeleteMany good wishes on your book! Will you let us know when you finally read it ? :)
ReplyDeleteHi - can I use frozen mango - if so do I use from frozen or defrost first?
ReplyDeleteBest wishes on your book-many congratulations!
Can I make it without the nuts as my husband cannot eat them? Thank you, and congratulations 🥳
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading your book in one sitting on a very rainy day in Copenhagen. Loved your style of writing. The story, a cup of tea and the rain outside - bliss ! Congratulations and looking forward to reading more of your writing.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading your book in one sitting on a very rainy day in Copenhagen. Loved your style of writing. The story, a cup of tea and the rain outside - bliss ! Congratulations and looking forward to reading more of your writing.
ReplyDelete