This is a great recipe to adjust to include whatever fruit that may be in season. My parents have a mango tree and they have LOTS of mangos. They make mango everything ... including mango cake. I like mangos and the freshness of this cake so I got a hold of this recipe from my mom. This cake tastes light and airy and making it whole wheat doesn't change the taste at all and instead just packs in extra nutrition.
Whole Wheat Mango Cake (or other fruit)
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 pound mangoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (1/3 hard wheat berries and 2/3 soft wheat berries)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions
Cut up the mangoes and squeeze half the lemon juice over the mangos and set aside.
If you mill your own flour, mill 1 cup soft wheat berries and 1/2 cup hard wheat berries. I use the pastry setting on my WonderMill. Since this is a dessert dough, sift the flour twice removing some of the bran in order to make it less dense.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a different bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar together on medium until light and fluffy (for about 3 minutes).
Then beat the eggs in one at a time.
Add the vanilla.
Finally add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low until the batter just comes together.
Grease or use parchment paper in a 9x13 pan and spread the batter in the pan.
Wrap it and let it chill for at least 20 minutes.
While it is chilling, pre-heat the oven to 375F.
Once the batter is chilled, arrange the mangoes over the batter.
Squeeze the remaining lemon juice evenly over the mangos.
In a bowl, mix the cinnamon with 1 Tbs sugar and then sprinkle it over the mangos.
Bake the cake for 45-55 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center is set.
Cool the cake on a cooling rack.
Enjoy! Remember you can substitute the mangos for another fruit if you prefer.
