Mango, Orange and Cayenne Pepper Cake

Things sure have been busy recently, but I have been able to make time for a little fun.  Several of us went out on a friend's boat last weekend.  It was so nice to spend several hours in the sun relaxing!  As a thank you, I brought along a mango, orange, and cayenne pepper cake from the book CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch.I have baked a couple of things from the book before.  They are always really delicious but require several trips to the grocery store for unusual items like potato starch and vanilla powder.

I decided to try to try the "Sassy" pound cake from the book because I love mango. Mmmmm.... mango.  The first step to the recipe is to make a mango puree from scratch.  You could save a little time by buying the mango puree from the grocery store, but it's surprisingly easy to make and quite satisfying to know that everything in your cake is truly from scratch!

Mango Puree - printer friendly

• 1 mango
• 1/4 sugar

1. Slice the mango into small pieces.
2. Add mango and sugar together in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
4. Strain the fruit and save the syrup for another use (such as in frosting).
5. Place the fruit in a food processor and puree until smooth.  
6. You can keep the puree in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Now you are ready for the cake!  The true version of Sassy includes several different liqueurs and alcohol in it.  I decided to omit them (the cake book explains how) but I did keep some extra vanilla extract in the mix.  

Mango, Orange, and Cayenne Bunt Cake - Adapted from Cake Love - 

• 2 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup mango puree
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups + 2 tablepsoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and orange zest on low speed for 3-4 minutes.  If you have a standing mixer use the paddle attachment to do this.
3. Slowly add the eggs one at a time and mix well at low speed after each addition.  Add the egg yolks in this manner as well and mix until well combined.  Be sure to periodically scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. Combine the flour, potato starch, salt, baking soda and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl and mix the contents with a whisk (the "dry ingredients").
5. In a separate bowl, add the mango, sour cream, vanilla, and orange extract and mix together with a whisk (the "wet" ingredients).
6. Alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients to the large bowl with the butter-sugar mixture.  Do this in a total of 5 steps (starting and ending with the dry ingredients) and mix after each addition, although the ingredients do not need to be completely mixed after each addition. This entire process should take about 60 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix well on medium speed after the final addition for about 20 seconds.
7. Spray a 12-cup bunt pan with baking spray or coat with Wilton Cake Release
8. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting and allowing the cake to rest on a plate or cooling rack until completely cool.

This cake has a nice orange flavor with some subtle mango notes in it.  I have to admit, I am not really sure if I tasted the cayenne pepper or not.  This bunt cake would be delicious without any sort of frosting, but I decided to add a mango Italian meringue buttercream frosting to give a little more mango flavor.  Italian meringue buttercream is a meringue-based frosting that has a very strong butter flavor to it (likely due to the large amounts of butter in it!) but not as sugary as more conventional buttercream.  Making this buttercream is a great way to use up some of that last mango puree and mango syrup that came from cooking the mango while making the mango puree.  If you don't have any of the syrup, you can try substituting mango juice.  The frosting isn't the easiest to make.  It requires boiling sugar syrup to a specific temperature with a candy thermometer. This is best made with a standing mixer.

Mango Italian Meringue Buttercream -  printer friendly version

• 5 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons mango puree
• 2 tablespoons mango syrup

1. Add the water and 1 cup of sugar to a saucepan and stir.  Place the candy thermometer in the saucepan and partially cover the bowl.  Put it on medium-high heat.and allow to boil until it reaches 245F (this may also be known as the "firm ball stage").  
2. While you are waiting for the sugar syrup to get that hot, start making the meringue.  Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on high speed until you have stiff peaks.
3. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar to the meringue while the mixer is still running on high speed.  Don't forget to check in on the sugar syrup!
4. Once the sugar syrup is 245F, slowly pour the syrup into the meringue while the mixer is running on high speed. 
5. After all of the sugar syrup has been added, reduce the speed to medium until the meringue is cooled.  Test the temperature of the meringue by touching the bottom of the mixing bowl.  This will take several minutes.
6. Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time to the cooled meringue mixture while on medium speed.  Once all of the butter has been added, increase the speed to high and mix for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the butter has been well mixed into the meringue.  
7. Add the mango puree and syrup to taste.  Mix well after adding.

I looooove Italian meringue buttercream, mostly because it isn't that sugary.  I think that it really complimented the cake well.  It's a little unconventional to slice a bunt cake, but they did it in the CakeLove book so I thought I would give it a try.  The buttercream recipe made quite a bit, so I made it three layers. A very easy way to make layers is to use a wire leveler.

And there you have it: Mango, Orange, and cayenne pepper bunt cake with mango Italian meringue buttercream!