As a child I attended an awful lot of parish pot-luck parties, social gatherings that were mandatory in my family. Dad’s church was large, and the cavernous basement served as a dining room; long tables were filled with food cooked by parishioners, and I grew to loath the sight of tuna casseroles, cabbage rolls and bean salads! The dessert table made me happier – there were options such as lemon meringue pies, cookies and, of course, pineapple upside-down cakes.
Years later I attended a lot of pot-luck parties on Bequia, and the differences between church socials in Canada and those on Bequia made me laugh! For starters, the church families didn’t smoke weed and there were no alcoholic beverages. They all wore shoes (high heels for the ladies!) along with proper dresses and brassieres, and the men wore suits and ties. On Bequia people basically came as they were, barefoot and scantily clad, and the smell of ganja filled the air as the rum flowed. The food people brought to these affairs wasn’t in any way fancy, but then food wasn’t the most important part of island pot-luck parties. I was therefore very impressed when someone new to the island arrived bearing a cake she had made, a mango upside-down cake. How exotic was THAT? This was certainly an original twist to the ubiquitous pineapple upside-down cake I had grown up with, and it tasted as good as it looked.
During mango season I often make upside-down cake, it’s a family favourite and easy to make;
Lightly grease and flour a round 9” pan. Heat ½ cup sugar along with 4-6 tbsp of amber rum until the sugar has dissolved, then let it boil about for 3 minutes. Pour this mixture immediately into the cake pan, swirling so it coats the bottom evenly. Arrange slices of fresh mangos to cover the mixture completely.
In one bowl mix 1 cup of white sugar, 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp allspice. In another bowl whisk together 1/3 cup heavy cream, ½ cup canola oil, 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tbsp rum and 1 large, mashed ripe banana. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry, whisking until smooth.
Pour the cake batter over the mangoes and bake at 350 degrees 45-50 minutes. *Be sure to insert a knife to test for doneness, when it can be removed clean the cake is done*. Let it cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a plate over the pan, and quickly turn it upside-down. Gently lift the pan and voila – a lovely tropical cake is the result. This mango cake is nice served with whipped cream or ice cream but delicious on its own, and any that is left over keeps well in the fridge.
More than 4 decades after seeing my first mango upside-down cake my reaction remains the same – I lift the pan to reveal my creation and think, “how exotic is THAT!?”
