This cake came about as an inspiration for Mother’s Day celebration. Not being British, I am used to celebrating this very special day later in the year. However, here in UK we remember our precious mums in the beginning of March. So, I wanted this cake to be very feminine, delicate, and full of wonderful surprises.
It all started with a mango I bought a couple of days ago, which had to wait patiently in my kitchen for a few days to ripe and become sweet and juicy. Once I figured out the filling with a tangy lemon curd, I realized I would also like to change the colours of each layer. And, of course, what colour would be better than soft pink and light purple? I thought it would make the perfect Mother’s day cake. Light and fresh, sweet, and a bit different…
Mango and Lemon Curd Cake (serves 6-8)
4 medium eggs
225 g softened unsalted butter
220 g self raising flour
220 g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
pink and purple food colouring
For the butter-cream filling
175 g unsalted butter
370 g icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
100 g lemon curd
one ripe mango, cut into small chunks
Preheat the oven to 180° C/150° C fan. Grease the tins with butter and dust with flour, or with greaseproof paper. For this cake I used 4 cake tins (each 4″, but 5″ would also work).
Whip the softened butter with sugar until pale, and then add eggs, and the rest of the ingredients. Mix until combined. The mixture should be light and easy to spread. Do not over-mix as that would stop sponges from rising.
Be careful when adding the food colouring. The best way is to use a tooth sticks. Add a tiny bit if pink food colouring and mix thoroughly. This layer could also be left white, if you prefer. Transfer a small amount into the first cake tin. Add more pink colouring and mix again. This layer should be light pink. Transfer the second cake mixture to the cake tin. Then, add even more pink colouring to create a very deep shade of pink. Fill the third cake tin. Finally, add purple food colouring to get a dark and rich purple cake mixture. Fill the last cake tin and putt all tins into the oven. Leave to bake for about 12-15 minutes. You might need to rotate your tins in the oven to allow even bake. Cake is baked once it starts to come way from the edges.
Release all baked sponges from tins and leave to cool on the side, preferably on a cooling rack if you have one. Once all sponges are at room temperature, trim each one so that they are all same height.
For the butter-cream filling, whip all of the softened butter with the icing sugar. You might want to add some milk to make the mixture lighter and easier to work with. Spread the lemon curd onto the bottom purple sponge and also onto the light pink sponge; spread a small amount of the butter-cream on the dark pink sponge.
To assemble, place the purple sponge at the bottom, then dark pink sponge, followed by light pink sponge and finally the lightest sponge. Cover with some of the butter-cream and smooth the sides and edges. Leave in a fridge for about 20 minutes to harden. Add a small amount of pink food colouring to the leftover butter-cream and spread around the sponge but not on the top. Carefully smooth the sides of the cake and then the top of the cake.
by Maria
foodamaze 