Cake with fruit…but not fruit cake

Posted: February 21, 2010 | Author: Alyssa | Filed under: Alyssa, delish | 4 Comments »

I love cake. I have really had the baking urge lately so I decided to make a cake.  Now, a lot of people could probably just grab a mix, throw it together and be good.  However, I would not be a Pretty Girl if that were sufficient for me.  So while I was supposed to be working, I thought about what I could do to that I hadn’t done before.  I had a couple ideas in my head, but this one didn’t really come together until I walked into the grocery store.  I always head to the produce section of the grocery store first (because apparently starting with the produce will help me make healthier food decisions.  Sometimes the fact that I hold a Master’s degree baffles even me with logic like this).  So I head to the produce section and the first thing I see is “Mangoes $.99.  Hell Yes.  I love mangoes, and these were all pretty and ripe and just pliable enough to be perfect.  Once I saw these, it all came to me. Chocolate cake with mango-basil salsa.

You can use any chocolate cake recipe that you prefer, but I like my cake denser so I used our very own  Improviser’s chocolate cake recipe .  Its pretty easy to make, and tastes fantastic.

For the salsa, you need:

1 fully ripe mango

3 large fresh basil leaves

granulated sugar

liquor of your choosing. I used American Honey, but rum would also work.

While the cake is baking, dice the mango as finely as possible and roughly chop the basil.  Put them both in a bowl and throw in a dash of sugar and liquor.  Mix it up and let it sit so the flavors meld together.  I served this with lightly sweetened  whipped cream as well to cut some of the intensity of all the flavors.

Once the cake is ready to be served, just put the piece on a plate, top it with some of the mango and add a dollop of whipped cream on the side.  Its actually pretty easy to make, and the whole thing only took me an hour.  I then took the rest of the cake out to the dorm for the girls and it was gone in approximately 3.5 minutes…I almost didn’t get the plate onto the table before the little vultures attacked me.  Whoever said teenage girls don’t eat is a damn dirty liar, because I’m pretty sure I could drag a dead buffalo into the common room and they would eat it to the bones  in minutes.

What I really like about this is that the basil is similar enough to mint to work, but different enough to give it that hint of something unique.  I think my next move might be to make the mango a chutney filling and then serve it with a basil whipped cream…