MANGO CAKE

This cake brings rave reviews and is a nice change from the predictable pineapple upside-down cake. The cake is sweet, very light and tender and the fruit keeps it deliciously moist. We ate it warm, with ice cream after dinner tonight.

Preheat your oven to 350F and spray a round 9" x 2" cake pan with vegetable spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and then spray it again.

BOILED SYRUP LAYER (goes under the batter)
1 cup white sugar
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
¼ cup cold water
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Arrange one pound of small diced mango in the bottom of the parchment lined cake pan, and sprinkle VERY LIGHTLY with some cinnamon sugar. Note: I threw in a few maraschino cherry pieces for color.

In a heavy bottomed  sauce pan, stir 1 cup sugar + lemon juice and cold water together. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring once in a while, until it starts to turn amber. Watch carefully, because once it starts to turn color, because it will darken quickly. After it turns light amber, pour evenly over the mango and set aside while you make the batter.

CAKE LAYER
1½ cups all purpose flour
1¾ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
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In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon together, set aside. In another small bowl, mix milk and vanilla extract, set aside.
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With electric mixer, beat the room temperature butter for one minute, or until it is light and fluffy; add brown sugar and beat on high for 3 minutes. Reduce speed and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl once in a while.

Now you need to mix in the milk mixture and the flour mixture, but make sure you alternate (dry...milk...dry...milk etc.). Scrape down the bowl and give it one final mix but don't mix too long. Pour the batter over the mango and syrup layer.

Bake at 350F for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean (it takes 45 minutes in my electric oven). Remove from oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge to loosen, then invert on a serving plate and peel off the parchment paper; serve warm. This cake is excellent with whipped cream or ice cream.

NOTE: Do not make this in a spring form pan because the sauce might leak out.

NOTE: You can make this with almost any kind of fruit, blueberries work nicely too.

NOTE: The fruit might appear quite wet when you first invert the cake, but as it cools off, the sauce thickens considerably.