Tropical, easy, and eye catching
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter; divided
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup shredded coconut + extra for topping
1 large mango; sliced thinly
Instructions
Cut your mango into long, thin slices.
Melt 1/4 cup butter and spread it around the sides and bottom of your cake pan. Don't be alarmed if there's still extra sitting in the bottom, its how it should be.
Arrange the mango slices in the pan (try a design?), cover with some extra coconut if you like.
In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup melted butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients, then fold in the coconut.
Pour batter over mango slices and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Wait until the cake is cool to turn it out of the pan.
Serve with sprinkled coconut, whipped cream, or powdered sugar topping.
Tips
- Try it with other fruits! Peaches, pineapple, plums, apricots, apples, strawberries, oranges, lemons, cherries, blueberries... Basically slice up any fruit you can think of and go for it! I'm definitely gonna make some spins off this recipe. Be on the lookout for those coming soon! You can sub the coconut for something else or leave it out entirely if it doesn't work for your fruit choice.
- With different fruits, think about adding different spices, flavorings, or even fruit juices (instead of some of the milk?) -- just keep in mind that adding more/less liquid than in this recipe WILL change the texture/bake time.
- I knew the cake was done when I saw the domed golden top. If you prefer to test with a toothpick, remember that if you push it far enough it may hit some fruit and come out wet, making the cake appear underbaked.
Calories
All the ingredients adds up to about 3,870 calories. Divide that by how many slices you divided the cake into. I cut it in 12 slices so each slice would be 322 calories.
Photos!
The cake itself only has a little vanilla flavor, but adding in the shredded coconut gives it a natural coconut taste (I'm not a fan of extracts) and a slightly different texture. Then, the mango lends its own distinct flavor, consistency, and sweetness. This cake is very fresh. It's not too overpowering or rich.
Let's talk about something important to me: Maximum results through minimal effort.
In life, there are times to give it your 110% and work your butt off. But there are also times to kick back and enjoy yourself. This cake is the perfect balance. Why, you ask? This is a super easy recipe, not only because of the simplicity of how to make it, but also because there's no extra decorating or frosting required. It's one tier, easy, yet still stunning. And, of course, delicious. Now, there are perhaps easier cakes out there. But this one is in the sweet spot of being relatively easy, hard to truly mess up, not many ingredients, and fast. Now, if you want to go all out and bake your butt off, you can surely make a better looking cake. I support you. But this cake will be easy and will look better than it should considering how little time and effort it took.
In short, you're gonna get more than what you pay for here. This cake is a steal. Save it for when you don't need any more hassle but still need cake. So, like every night.
Love,
Rachel