Fresh mango and vanilla cake

Ready in 1 hour and 20 minutes, makes 1 x 20cm cake.

If you’ve never baked a cake, this is a great “no fail” recipe to start your baking career with.

Apart from slicing the mango, all the remaining ingredients are stirred together in a bowl for 10 to 20 seconds and that’s it!

• 1 firm ripe mango
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 125g buttermilk or natural yogurt
• 125ml sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1-2 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
• Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and finely grated lime zest

1. Use a 20cm cake tin. Grease the tin and line the base with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

2. Peel the mango. Cut the flesh away from the stone and discard. Thinly slice the fruit and arrange over the bottom of the cake tin.

3. Place the sugar, eggs, buttermilk or yoghurt, oil, coconut and vanilla in a  large bowl and stir until smooth and mixed thoroughly. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.

4. Spoon the mixture over the mango and smooth the top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave the cake in the tin for15 minutes, then turn out onto the rack of a grill tray, mango-side up. Peel off the baking paper. Preheat grill.

5. Dust the cake thickly with icing sugar and place under the hot grill for 3 to 4 minutes or until the sugar has mostly melted. Leave to cool on the rack.

6. Transfer the cake to a plate and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and a little finely grated lime zest. Any leftover cake can be covered with cling film and kept in the cake tin for up to 2 to 3 days.

Cook’s tip:
For the best flavour, we used Equagold vanilla paste from the supermarket.