MANGO AND COCONUT CAKE

I found the idea for this recipe many years ago in a magazine and the taste is fruity, moist and sweet and quite different for a teatime treat. Mango is one of my most favourite fruits and is perfect in this cake. The crystallised dried diced Mango is fairly expensive - it will cost about £2, but it is worth it for this delicious treat. I bought the fruit in Grape Tree, but it is readily available in health food shops and suchlike. They come in little diced chunks but to get the lovely moist mango taste all the way through, you need to chop it until the bits are very very small. See pic on my Blog. This is an easy peasy all in one method so is a doddle.

You will need an 8” spring form, loose bottomed cake tin, lightly oiled and the base lined with parchment. Preheat your fan oven to 180C

Place all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl - except the mango

6 oz softened butter

6 oz caster sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

grated zest of an orange

3 large eggs

1 oz desiccated coconut

1 oz ground almond

8 oz self raising flour

1 tablespoon milk.

Crystallised dried diced mango - about 6 oz [150g], chopped into very very small bits.

Mix well for a couple of minutes, it is much easier with an electric hand whisk, but a wooden spoon is good! Then fold in the fruit. Tip this mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about 40 mins, until just firm to the touch. Cool for a few mins in the tin then turn onto a rack. The cake is enough on its own but you can decorate it.

Make an icing: I used just plain icing sugar with a little extra zest then drizzled it over the top, with a tad more coconut. But you could make a butter icing as an alternative to top it.

Just scrummy.