#264_Mango Upside Down Cake

Mango Upside Down Cake

I had used white cake mix out of the box to make this cake before I perfected making chiffon cake. The difference is huge not only in flavor, but also in texture. So if you want a quality upside down cake I highly recommend using any chiffon cake recipe you are already comfortable making, but if you don't have a recipe yet, here's a tried and true one: #210_Orange Chiffon Cake, click here.

Please don't be alarmed by the length of the recipe as I was. When I first saw the recipe from joyofbaking.com I thought it was too complicated so I didn't try making it for a while, then one day I got braved and decided to give it a try. It came out good the very first time. The second time I made it, the middle of the cake caved in. I know, it was discouraging, but because I knew how it turned out the first time, that experience didn't stop me from trying it again. The next hundred times after that were good. The only challenge in making chiffon cake is making meringue, which is quite tricky and requires a little practice, so don't give up if it didn't turn out good the first time; read up on making meringue if you're making it the very first time. Once perfected that process, making chiffon cake becomes easier.

This recipe makes three 8-inch round cakes or if you just want to make one or two of these, use the remaining batter to make Mamon, click here for the recipe,
Crema de Fruta or other cakes.

For 3 cakes using 8 inch round pans:

1/2 sticks butter per pan, melted
1/2 cups dark brown sugar per pan
2 fresh mangoes per pan, sliced or diced (or more, the better)
1 recipe of Orange Chiffon Cake, (click here for the recipe)

Pour melted butter in pans and evenly spread sugar over butter. Arrange sliced mangoes on top of sugar then pour the chiffon cake batter evenly between the 3 pans. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for about 25-35 minutes or until cake is done.
To check if cake is done, insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean, then it is done. Avoid over baking it.
Let cake cool completely before inverting them onto serving plates.

Note from MaMely:If you want thicker cake, you can use two 9-inch pans, 3 inches high, or you can experiment with different pan sizes.

#211_Mamon or Filipino Sponge Cake

What is Mamon?

(pronounced, mah-moon)

When chiffon cake batter or sponge cake batter is baked in those little fluted molds, cup cake style, the finished product becomes mamon. Sometimes they are called mini cakes.

When I was growing up mamon can be purchased from any regular bakery and they were available in just one kind...which was the regular mamon. Nowadays, they have what they call Special Mamon from specialty bake shops. These Special mamon are brushed with melted butter then topped with cheese and sugar. Very calorific!!

Mamon can be made from either Sponge Cake or Chiffon Cake batter. These two types of cakes are very similar to each other in texture and in taste, but one main difference is that Sponge Cake do not contain fat in the form of vegetable oil or butter which makes it a fat-free cake while Chiffon Cake contains fat. It doesn't matter, we Filipinos love both kinds.

Use the Orange Chiffon Cake batter recipe #210,
to make fantastic Mamon....

....or you can use any of your favorite chiffon or sponge cake recipes that you may already have.


Pour batter in 24 greased molds, (I use medium size ensaymada molds) then place these molds in sheet pans. (12 molds in a pan). Bake in pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 18 minutes. (test your oven temp. first)

If you don't have the fluted molds, just simply use muffin pans lined with paper liners.

The author of Joy of Baking who owns this recipe that I'm using said to invert the cake immediately upon taking it out of the oven so the cake will not shrink or lose its volume. I can't do that with the mamon in their individual molds, so I just skipped that process.

Hope you'll give this a try. You won't regret you did!

Note from MaMely:

You can use the mamon as a base for strawberry shortcakes, click here. Just spoon some strawberry filling on top of each mamon and top them with cool whip or whipped topping.

Addendum:

Don't worry if you don't have those fluted molds to make Mamon....

You can save tuna fish cans or collect them from friends. It took me a while to save about 20 cans. Make sure to wash them thoroughly before using. I had to soak them in soapy water for a couple of days before I got rid of the fishy smell, but it it's all worth it because I love the size and shape of the finished product.

Make sure to grease the sides and bottom of the cans really well
before spooning in the batter.

Mamon becomes Taisan
I let the Mamon cooled a little on a wire rack, then brushed them
with melted butter and sprinkled with white sugar.


I used some of the Mamon to make Tres Leches Cake
(click here ), and it was great!

#210_Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon Cake

Adapted from Joy of Baking
with just a couple of adjustments in the ingredients.

Update, 5.14.11(Compare with Japanese Cheesecake
or Cream Cheese Chiffon Cake, recipe #297, click here.)

There are 2 parts to the Orange Chiffon Cake:
Part1: the egg yolk mixture
Part 2: the egg whites mixture or meringue

Separate 7 eggs and set aside

Part 1
Egg Yolk Mixture:

2-1/4 cups cake flour (sift before measuring)
3/4 cups castor sugar or superfine sugar*
(white sugar works just fine)
1 tsp salt
1 Tb baking powder
Sift all ingredients in a bowl or as Martha Stewart does,
stir with a wire whip

Make a well in the center and add:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice
7 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla


Using a wire whisk or a hand mixer, blend all ingredients together.
This is the egg yolk mixture, (part 1)
Set aside and make the egg white mixture.

Part 2
Egg Whites Mixture or Meringue
7 egg whites, room temp
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup caster sugar
(or white sugar will do)

Using a stand mixer with the wire whip attachment, whip egg whites until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form
then gradually beat in the sugar.

Continue to whip until stiff-peaks forms.
This is a critical part of making the Chiffon Cake.
You don't want to neither under beat nor over beat your egg whites.
Here's a link on how to whip egg whites:
http://bakingbites.com/2005/06/cooking-school-how-to-beat-egg-whites/

To make the chiffon cake batter:

With a rubber spatula gently fold (in 3 batches) the egg white mixture(part 2) into the egg yolk mixture (part 1) just until it is well blended together. Do not beat or stir the mixture.

Pour batter into ungreased bundt pans and bake in a pre-heated 325 degrees oven for about 55-60 minutes.

The cake is done when tooth pick (I use bamboo skewer)

inserted in to the cake comes out clean.
Invert pan right away after taking it out from the oven
so the cake will not shrink or lose its volume.

Yields:
With this recipe, you can make
12 mamon and 1 bundt cake
or
24 mamon in medium molds (click here)
or
4 (9" round) cakes for Crema de Fruta
(for recipe click here)
or
2 (9x11) cakes for Crema de Fruta
(for recipe click here)

2 (11x5) loaf pans for Custard Cakes
Click here for recipe

http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/150mango-custard-cake.html

(experiment with the baking time)

Notes from MaMely:*I had used regular white sugar in this recipe and it did not affect the texture, at least i thought so.
Caster sugar is the same as the superfine or ultrafine sugars.

Valuable info: How to "fold in" ingredients

"The basic process is to use a large rubber spatula to reach down through the center of the foam to the bottom of the bowl and lift some of the batter up and on top of the foam. As you turn your wrist to deposit the batter on top of the eggs, you turn the bowl a few degrees. Then reach down to the bottom again and lift more of the batter up and over the foam. As the bowl turns, the batter and foam blend, and when there are no traces of egg white left, you’re done.

There are a few tricks that will help you fold. The first is to take a quarter or so of the beaten egg and mix it into the heavier batter. You lose some of the bubbles, but it brings the consistency of the batter closer to that of the foam so they mix better....." Read the rest of the info here.