Mango and Cheese Cake
Hello, hello! I have been away for longer than I have wanted to but only because there have been some technical issues I’ve had to deal with. I don’t want to bore you with the details but I am here now, on Valentine’s Day, with love in the form of a delicious cake recipe (is there any love greater than that, I ask you?).
You might be wondering if I have a typo in the title, if the ‘and’ there is accidental. No and no. This isn’t a cheesecake in its regular sense of the word, instead, it’s an ordinary cake with cheese added to it. Sounds weird, I know, but please trust me on this. You know how fruit and cheese go well together? So why wouldn’t it translate well into a baked version?
If you’re still not convinced, then I have no choice but to tell you a story. That’ll teach ya.
Just after Christmas, I found myself looking at a pack of barely eaten cranberry Wensleydale in the fridge that needed to be used up. Google didn’t disappoint and showed me very relevant results but the one that most intrigued me was an apple cake with cranberry Wensleydale. So I baked it, still not expecting much of the result that was about to emerge from the oven. Like you, I was sceptical. Oh but how I was wrong!
The cake had so much going for it – butteriness from the..er..butter, texture from the apples, a slight tang and saltiness from the cheese – all brought together in a neat little package of deliciousness by the caramel notes of the sugar. That cake disappeared in no time and who can blame me them? I baked it again to take as a present to our elderly neighbours. In the Thank You note that they sent us, they told us how much they were craving it. So I baked it for them again. Then I baked some for family. Then I baked some for friends. It’s only been 45 days into the New Year and I must have already baked at least a dozen of these. And along the way, I came up with this recipe for the mango lovers in the family. This version is totally my own but I owe a big thanks to the original recipe for making me realise how good cheese can be in a cake.
If you still remain unconvinced, there’s only one way to find out if I am right, right? Just try the recipe, for goodness sake.
Notes:
- For those who can’t obtain Wensleydale or are unfamiliar with it, it is a mild, crumbly cheese which generally comes in four varieties: plain, cranberry, mango & ginger and apricot. I wish I could recommend a substitute but I can only guess that Cheddar might work. I will have to experiment further and get back to you.
- It is extremely important that you eat this cake warm or even hot. Not cold or at room temperature.
- If you care about such matters, this is more like a ‘coffee cake’, i.e. to be eaten with tea or coffee rather than as a dessert but I wouldn’t object if you ate it for breakfast or dinner or lunch.
- This is not a very sweet cake and all the better for it.
On to the recipe then, friends!
Mango & Wensleydale Cheese Cake
Ingredients
- 25 g salted butter melted, for greasing the tin
- 150 g salted butter 5 oz, softened
- 175 g soft light brown sugar 6 oz
- 2 eggs – beaten
- 2 tbsp mango juice or milk
- 175 g self raising flour – sieved 6 oz
- 1 small apple – peeled, cored & sliced about 100g / 3.5 oz
- 1 large ripe but firm mango, peeled and cut into thin slices about 1" long 250 g sliced weight
- 125 g Wensleydale with mango & ginger – crumbled 4 oz
- 1 tbsp Demerara sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C / 325°F / gas mark 3.
- Grease a 20cm (8”) springform cake tin well with the butter. You may have a bit more than you need but add it all to the pan.
- Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beat in the milk and flour. Fold in all of the apple slices and 3/4 of the mango slices.
- Crumble over the mango & ginger Wensleydale cheese. The mixture will be very thick.
- Spoon the mixture into the tin.
- Arrange the rest of the mango slices on top and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
- Bake for 55 minutes until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin.