NADIYA’S MANGO & COCONUT YOGHURT CAKE

These are the flavours I

grew up with – though while mango was cooked in curries, dried or eaten

in the sun under the shade of the tree, it was never put in a cake. The same went for coconut: if it wasn’t being eaten dry,

it was being stewed or eaten early, drinking its sweet water and scooping

out its young flesh – but never, ever in a cake. So,

let’s fix that and put all that wonderful stuff into a

cake, shall we?

Prep time: 35 minutes,

plus chilling

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS

For the cake

Butter, for greasing the tins

50g desiccated coconut 1 mango, peeled and thinly

sliced lengthways 400g Greek yoghurt

300g caster sugar 7 medium eggs, lightly beaten 400g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

For the German buttercream 150ml whole milk 100g caster sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp cornflour 350g unsalted butter, at room

temperature

½ tsp vanilla extract

For the decoration

25g of coconut chips or desiccated coconut, toasted

150g mango pulp

To serve

Greek yoghurt and extra

mango pulp

METHOD

► Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Line and grease two 20cm deep round cake tins.

► Toast the coconut in a small pan until it is golden and sprinkle into the bases of the cake tins, making sure to evenly distribute it. Add the mango in some sort of orderly fashion on top of that coconut.

► The cake is an all-inone method, so easy. Pop the yoghurt into a large mixing bowl along with the sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and salt, and mix until you have a smooth, shiny cake batter. Pour the mixture into the tins and tap the tins a few times on the work surface to level off the top.

► Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Take the cakes out and leave in the tins to cool for 15 minutes, then turn out and leave them to cool.

► Meanwhile, make the buttercream by adding the milk to a saucepan with the sugar and vanilla extract. As soon as it just comes to the boil, take off the heat and mix, making sure the sugar has melted.

► Now add the egg yolks to a bowl with the cornflour and whisk. In a steady stream pour in the hot milk mixture, making sure to stir all of the time. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently until it all thickens into a really thick custard that coats the back of the spoon. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool, then chill in the fridge.

► When chilled, whisk the custard mix, then add a good tablespoon of butter at a time, whisking after each. Keep whisking until you have a stiff, pipeable buttercream. Pop into a piping bag.

► Take the first cake, with the fruit side facing up, and arrange on a serving dish. Pipe swirls of the buttercream around the edge, then in the centre, covering the top of the cake. Pop the other cake on top and make the same swirls around the edge, avoiding the middle and leave gaps between swirls.

► Pour the mango pulp into the centre, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle it with the coconut and serve with Greek yoghurt.