Sugar High Friday -- Tropical Paradise

I entered my first blog contest! Alpineberry is doing a Sugar High Friday contest and the theme is "Tropical Paradise." I decided to enter my Mango-Ginger pound cake.



It's my first "original" recipe, and it's one I'm quite proud of. I've made it several times, and it always gets RAVE reviews. It's become my signature recipe, and it is often requested by friends and family for special occasions.



I originally got the idea for this pound cake when I made a Mango Ginger Syrup for a fruit salad. I had some left over, and thought I would see what happened when I added it to a pound cake batter. I've been tweaking it since then. So, for the first time, here's my signature recipe:

Mango Ginger Pound Cake:

3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
1 lb. (4 sticks) butter
8 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 mangoes
1 1/2" fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. crystalized ginger, finely chopped.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of bowl after each egg. Mix in the vanilla extract.
4. Add in sifted dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
5. Slice and peel mango, and puree mango and fresh ginger. Mix in pureed mango mixture. Fold in chopped crystalized ginger.
6. Pour batter into greased pan and bake at 375 until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 35-45 minutes.




A few notes: The quantities of both fresh ginger and crystalized ginger can be increased or decreased to suit your tastes. As written, you can taste the ginger, but it is not overwhelming. If you like more ginger bite, bump it up a bit...if you want it to be more subtle, decrease it a bit. Also, the cake pictured was obviously baked in a bundt pan. However, I've found I have a harder time getting the cake to bake evenly in a bundt pan. I've had much better luck using loaf pans. As written, the recipe will make two loaves. If you do use a bundt pan, wait until the cake is cooked most of the way through, then invert it over an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and finish the baking upside down.

Bon Appetit!

P.s. Knitting content tomorrow, I promise!