Debbie Quinn has a lifelong love of food and cooking, nurtured in her parents’ restaurants and in her own family’s kitchen. Every fortnight she shares her passion and expertise with our readers, bringing her best recipes, tips and tricks to the table.
This is an old recipe that looks amazing, tastes even better and best of all, it’s quite easy and fun to make.
Three layers of cake and filling, covered in icing that’s delicious — and if you’re so inclined, you can decorate this cake to your heart’s content.
For example, edible flowers, which you can pre-order from Finer Fruits, would look fabulous on this cake.
Mangoes are plentiful and beautiful to eat at the moment, so they’re perfect for this recipe.
It’s a great cake to enjoy with family and friends over the coming festive season.
Cake mixture
- 375g plain flour
- 500g caster sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp bi-carb soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1½ cups olive oil
- 1½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1 x 250g can crushed pineapple, undrained
- 2 cups ripe chopped bananas (mash slightly)
Icing
- 125g butter
- 1 x 250g original Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 500g icing sugar
- Fresh mango pieces to taste
Edible flowers to decorate
Method
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and oil, stirring well until combined. Do not beat. Stir in the vanilla, crushed pineapple and bananas.
2. Spoon the batter into three well-greased and floured 20cm cake pans. Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Insert a wooden skewer to test — it should come out clean when the cake is cooked.
3. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack.
To make the icing
1. Beat together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, adding a little milk if necessary. (Alternatively, process the butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a food processor. Add the icing sugar and process again.)
2. Divide the icing into two bowls. Add the mango to the icing in one bowl and use it to spread between the layers of the cake. When the cake is assembled, spread the icing from the second bowl over the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with fresh flowers or pieces of fresh mango around the edge.
Deb’s tips
If you only have one 20cm cake tin, you can bake one cake at a time.
I have only two of these cake tins, so I bake two together, then the third one on its own.
Use ripe bananas and mash them slightly, not too much.
When mangoes are out of season, you can use chopped banana for the icing filling.
Just make sure to squeeze some lemon juice on the bananas so they don’t go brown.
I have also used blueberries or raspberries for the filling; blueberries are wonderful.
I was unable to get edible flowers this time, so I used freshly sliced mango to decorate the cake.
Mangoes are lovely, but they will slide off the cake, so as an alternative, you may use blueberries and raspberries to decorate the top.