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Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake (No Refined Sugar)

Desserts, Food, Free From Recipes, Sweet Treats & Snacks

I could not sleep yesterday night and ended up going to bed at stupid o’clock. Again.

Just after midnight, I realised I’d been an awful mother all week, you see. That kind of stuff brings on insomnia despite the sleep deprivation let me tell you.

So as I was torturing myself mentally, trying to remember how inadequate I had been as a mother all week, I couldn’t sleep, naturally. I had to beat myself up and confess. Did it make me feel better? Not.

Worse, after I had finished writing what a rubbish mum I was, I started reading every school newsletter ever written and methodically wrote all important information in the family calendar, making sure I was also adding them to my to-do list.

What did I realise?

That I had missed yet another thing: the session at Beanie’s school where parents go in and their offspring proudly show them the amazing work they have done in school (mummy fail again).

I then promptly remembered I had bought myself a Mother’s Day present just I case I did not get anything fancy (bad, bad mummy). Then came the memory of sending Hubby to Jumpy’s preschool for the ‘socialising session’ a week early (yet another fail) and I sheepishly went to bed at an ungodly hour feeling like the worst mother in existence, frankly feeling sorry for myself (and my kids).

Then of course it dawned on me that all I was thinking about was me, me, me and not how my kids were feeling…

And on that note,

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

When kids have been silly, forgetful or naughty at school, they can go back the next day with a blank slate and start again, right? Is it the same for motherhood? Can I screw up today and start again tomorrow? I think not. I really have to pull myself together and start being a decent mother or I might fail that motherhood thing.

Sorry, this was meant to be an upbeat post about cake… Shall we talk about cake? It is so much easier than dealing with my ineptitude.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake - No Refined Sugar

Cake… Let’s talk about cake for Mother’s Day.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake

This stuff is good. It is even free from refined sugar.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake (No Refined Sugar)

The original recipe was sent to me by the lovely people at Organix but I made a few changes: no vanilla flavouring, less butter, less cream and more mangoes.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake - Mango & Passion Fruit

Since we made it on Mother’s Day, it would not be Mother’s Day cake had the children not been involved. Beanie loved spreading the whipped cream.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake (No Refined Sugar) - Beaning Helping

Her big brother was a lot more interested in trying the fruit coulis.

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Sponge Cake

What is your favourite flavour combination in cake?

 

Print

Quick and Easy Tropical Fruit Cake (No Refined Sugar)

Prep Time 15 hours
Cook Time 20 hours

Ingredients

For the sponge

  • • 1 mango
  • • 175g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • • 60ml maple syrup
  • • 4 free-range eggs
  • • 300g self-raising flour

For the filling and topping

  • • 4 ripe passion fruits
  • • 1 mango
  • • 300ml full-fat double cream
  • • 4 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (180°C, 160°C fan, 360°F). Grease a couple of 20cm sandwich tins with butter and line their bases with baking paper.
  2. Make mango puree by blending the flesh of one and a half mangoes until smooth. Keep about a third aside for the topping.
  3. Please note that this recipe contains more wet ingredients than typical cake mixes. The fruit puree and maple syrup make the mixture wetter than a traditional sugar-based cake. To prevent the mixture 'splitting' (looking curdled), add flour with each addition of wet. If the mixture is starting to split (looking a bit slimy), add in a tablespoon of flour and mix in.
  4. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the maple syrup and a tablespoon of flour until soft. Add 2/3 of the mango puree and 2 tablespoons of flour. Mix until all combined.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time, alongside 1 tablespoon of flour with each egg. Beat in thoroughly.
  6. Sieve in the rest of the flour gradually and fold gently into the mixture using a spatula. Be careful not to overmix it.
  7. Divide the mixture evenly between the two sandwich tins. Smooth over lightly, and then bake for 20 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch. Insert a knife to check the cakes are cooked – it should come out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes to cool a little, and then turn onto wire rack to cool completely.
  8. Once the sponge is completely cool, whip the cream until thick, then very lightly stir through 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Cut open the passion fruit and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and the rest of the mango puree.
  9. Sandwich the sponges together using half the whipped cream and half the passion fruit flesh. Top with the rest of the cream and drizzle the remaining passion fruit and mango coulis over the top.
  10. Slice the remaining mango half from top to bottom as close to the stone as possible. Score a criss-cross pattern in the half mango, then push the fruit cubes outward creating a hedgehog shape. Slice the fruit off the skin and add on top of the cake.
  11. This cake is best enjoyed on the day you bake it.

Disclosure:
– This is not a collaborative post. I was asked whether I wanted to try a recipe by Organix. I loved it and adapted it (recipe above). All opinions and photographs are my own.

 

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Tropical Fruit Cake

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Comments

  3. Natalie says

    I love a traditional vanilla sponge with a blackberry jam, but can’t beat a sharp lemon cake

    Reply

    • Mel says

      How do you make yours? I just make a pound cake with lemon juice/zest in and add sugar/lemon juice on top. Is your any different? No worries if it’s a family secret 🙂

      Reply

      • kefkat says

        The cake is made of a lemon batter mix: then 3 lemons juiced mixed with icing sugar warmed in a pan until it is melted. Keep it on the side warm. It is then poured over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven, once the cake has been skewered. Once it’s cool then I pour the lemon icing over it. If you want the full recipe let me know. It is totally full proof. I have never had 1 go wrong yet

        Reply

          • kefkat says

            Oops! I have only just remembered I didn’t put recipe up. Ill do it later today

          • kefkat says

            Just finally got the recipe out: For the loaf Cake: :8 oz/250 grm unsalted butter. 12.5 oz/350 grm caster sugar. 4 large eggs. Zest of 2 lemon. 12.5 oz/350 grm of self raising flour. Pinch of salt. 8 tablespoons of milk.

            For the syrup: juice of 3 lemons. 7oz/200 grm of icing sugar.

            For the glaze: juice of 1 lemon. 6oz/300 grm of icing sugar.

            Cream together the butter and sugar and add eggs and lemon zest, beating well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then add in the milk. Spoon the batter into your prepared tin (this makes a large Lemon Loaf Cake) The tin should be lined in grease proof paper. Bake for 55 minutes at gas mark 4/180 C and test to see if the cake is done. I usually cook it in the middle of the oven.

            For the syrup put the lemon juice and icing sugar in a pan over a warm heat and mix until dissolved. As soon as the cake is done puncture it all over with a skewer and pour over the sugar mix. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

            Combine lemon juice and icing sugar together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled Loaf Cake. Enjoy. I have never had a failed recipe with this. It always gets brilliant reviews

  19. Viv'Maman_Bas says

    I love a good old strawberry and cream cake 🙂
    And don’t worry, I missed the session at E’s school before half-term where they had a little show and showed parents their work… She came out of the classroom really sad asking “mummy, why did you miss my show?”. I was not remotely aware of this show, which was mentioned in a newsletter 3 weeks earlier… It took me a couple of weeks to get over it (well I’m still traumatised to be honest…). xxx

    Reply

    • Mel says

      You know what? You’ve made me feel better! (Sorry!) I sometimes wonder whether it’s me being disorganised or the school checking we all read every single words they write in newsletters…

      Reply

    • Mel says

      Oh I’ve got a white chocolate and raspberry cake recipe on the blog! Just type ‘cake’ in the search bar if you’re curious. It’s yum!

      Reply

  59. Julie's Family Kitchen says

    I love that this cake is almost guilt free. I’ll share on Facebook and will pin for future baking. 🙂 xx

    Reply

  66. Iris W says

    Thats a difficult choice to make I love so many cakes but if I have to choose I go for coffee & walnut

    Reply

  69. The Free From Fairy says

    Oh my goodness Mel, you are the least rubbish mum I know! I tend not to think about how bad a mum I am…it works for me! Aside from that, the cake looks flippin amazing…I will be making something like that as soon as I am off the strict part of the I Quit Sugar programme. YUM!

    Reply

    • Mel says

      You make me laugh with your quitting sugar programme. What do you eat, lady? I’ll have a teaspoon of something sweet on your behalf, he he!

      Reply

  91. Rebecca Beesley (The Beesley Buzz) says

    beetroot and chocolate cake although i’d love to try making a fruity cake like this!

    Reply

  122. Donna W says

    I love a good old fashioned black forest gateau – the combination of dark chocolate and cherries with cream is delicious.

    Reply

  131. DEBRA SHANAHAN says

    Not just saying this because of the cake above…but I love passion fruit in a cake – or in anything in fact!! maybe a bit of vanilla cream mixed in…mmmmm

    Reply

  150. Annette Haden says

    There is always to much sugar in shop bought products. Will have a go at this recipe at some point.

    Reply

  158. Wendy Tyler says

    I like a carrot cake made with some pineapple for extra natural sweetness. It must have the cream cheese frosting though!

    Reply

  171. fionajk42 says

    My favourite is banana cake. That’s not really a combination, so here’s a little story about when my daughter first made banana cake, aged 6 or 7. We were living in the Middle East which is sort of relevant as you have to hope this would not happen here. I was sitting at the kitchen table “supervising”. I told my daughter to carefully weigh the flour and then sift it into the mixing bowl. She did this very diligently, and then stood there looking at the sieve. I told her to add the next ingredients. She turned to me and said, “Mummy, what about these wiggly things, should I put them in the cake too?” I walked over and saw to my horror that the sieve was full of the most disgusting meal worms, which were too fat to go through the sieve. Banana & meal worm was not a combination we wanted to try so everything went in the bin.

    Reply

    • Mel says

      Yuck!! You’ve made me laugh though! I had a similar experience in the South of France. Took ages before I could make cake again!

      Reply

      • fionajk42 says

        I was rather put off baking too, but it didn’t seem to phase my daughter who wanted to make a cake as soon as we could purchase new (hopefully fresh) flour. Thanks heavens we had sifted the flour otherwise we might have eaten those horrible creatures. Ugh!

        Reply

        • Mel says

          When it happened to me, we didn’t sift the flour. I saw a moving thing (eurgh!) in the box of flour after I’d licked the bowl. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

          Reply