The king of fruits

In Asia, they say that the king of all fruits is the durian. I beg to differ.The title should go to the mango. Popularity-wise, mangoes win hands down. The people I've come across either love or hate the durian, and the split is 50-50. The majority of them though love mangoes. Taste-wise, the mango. What's there not to love? It's sweet, juicy, warm, soft, pleasantly fragrant (unlike the durian) and in a pretty deep yellow colour. It's the taste of summer in a fruit :) Desserts-wise...Mangoes. Mango pudding, mango sago, mango ice cream, mango gateaux, mango fruit..and lot of other dishes. They sound more appealing than the durian counterparts.

The moral of the story is that mangoes are a great ingredient to use in desserts. Especially now that summer is just around the corner in the land down under, mangoes have come into the supermarkets in abundance! 

The December edition of delicious. magazine featured a few mango recipes to welcome the summer season and the one I'm posting about is a great idea for birthday or party cakes. No oven baking is required. It's simple, fuss-free, quick and delicious! Remember the tiramisu cake I've posted before? The cake uses the same principles. Buy ready-made Savioardi (sponge fingers biscuits), dip them in the orange cordial and top with the mascarpone mixture and slices of mangoes. 

The decoration for the cake is the bit where you can experiment. Be creative! Pipe the leftover mascarpone, add white chocolate shavings, add mango gelatin for the top, whatever. For my cake, I added toasted almond flakes for the sides and arranged the mango slices to form a rose. One tip for the cake is to go easy on the orange-flavoured liquer..I thought that it was too much as sometimes when you eat the cake, you can feel the 'zing' of the alcohol. All in all, this is one awesome substitute for the popular and delicious mango gateaux.

Magomisu

adapted from delicious. magazine, Dec/Jan issue 2010

Ingredients

500g mascarpone cheese 
600ml thickened cream

50g pure icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
125ml Contreau/Grand Marnier
Juice of 2 oranges
300g savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits)
3 mangoes, flesh sliced 1cm thick

Method
1. Line the base of a 22cm springform cake pan with baking paper.
2. Place the mascarpone, thickened cream, egg yolks and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed until thick and well combined.
3. Combine the liquer and orange juice in a separate bowl.
4. Dip half of the sponge fingers into the orange mixture and layer in the base of the cake pan.
5. Spread one third of the mascarpone mixture and top with one-third of the mango slices.
6. Repeat the process, then top with the remaining mascarpone mixture.
7. Use the remaining mango slices to serve.
8. Cover the cake and chill for 2 hours or until firm.