No-Bake Mango Lime Cheesecake

 

To kick off the summer season (and the opening of his backyard swimming pool) my brother hosted a Memorial Day weekend barbecue for the family.  We normally divide and conquer when it comes to the menu and I was tasked with bringing dessert, comme d'habitude.  I wanted to make something light and fruity that didn't require too much effort.  Enter this No-Bake Mango Lime Cheesecake, which I'd initially seen on the NY Times Cooking Instagram account and immediately saved.  

 

 

Cheesecake itself can be quite heavy, especially the New York variety, but thankfully this one isn't since there are no eggs in the recipe.  The mango flavor comes from the use of canned, unsweetened purée, an ingredient not normally found in my pantry, but I was able to easily source some from Amazon.  I've heard you can also find it at Indian supermarkets. The citrus tones coming from the fresh lime juice and lime zest compliments the mango and cream cheese flavors beautifully.

 

The original recipe calls for a no-bake graham cracker crust but I decided to swap that out for one that you bake since I prefer a toasty texture instead.  Gelatin is used to set up the filling and glaze which makes it really nice to slice.  Often times I've found that when you use mangoes in desserts the fruit flavor gets lost in the shuffle; not with this cheesecake.  Since it wasn't baked the refreshing, tropical fruit flavor stays intact.   Really delicious!

Mango Mousse Cake

My friends recently commissioned a cake to celebrate their son's graduation from MBA school.  When I asked what kind, they responded, "something with mango."  The first thing I thought of was a light and refreshing Mango Mousse Cake.  The profile I was after was something that had intense fruit flavor without being overly sweet and a mousse cake fits the bill perfectly.

I searched the internet for inspiration but to be honest none of the cakes I saw particularly captured my fancy. In the end I went the Frankenstein route for my mango mousse cake, i.e., I took components of different recipes to come up with my creation.   I'm pretty thrilled with the results!

Here's the recipes I used:

Vanilla Chiffon Cake
Mango Mousse Filling
Ladyfingers
Mango Gel Topping

Now I'm inspired to use other fruits to make mousse cakes.  I'm thinking raspberry for next time.  Plus I also want to try my hand at wrapping the cake in a joconde imprime, an almond flavored sponge with a piped design.  Or maybe I'll finally get around to attempting a mirror glaze cake.

Mango Almond Coconut Agave Granola

Don't you hate it when a product you love is suddenly discontinued?  I certainly do.  So when Bear Naked stopped making my absolute favorite granola, Native Mango Agave Almond, I was in disbelief.  Such a shame because it was the best store-bought granola I've ever tasted.

But no use crying, especially after the company confirmed to me that they weren't bringing it back to market.  To console myself I set out to make my own version.

I started with The Barefoot Contessa's granola recipe, which I've made many times before, and tweaked it a bit.  I think I came pretty close to Bear Naked's version.  My favorite way to enjoy it is sprinkled over a bowl of fresh fruit and greek yogurt.  A perfect way to start the day!

Coconut Cupcakes with Mango Curd

I think most people have a love/hate relationship with coconut.  Which side are you on?  Me, I'm definitely pro-coconut.  But I caveat that by saying I absolutely love coconut in sweets, not savories.   Oh gosh, not in the savories please.  

 

These cupcakes have a refreshing tropical flare to them.  The white cake is tender and moist with just a hint of coconut.  The mango curd has a silky texture and a bit of tartness from lime juice, which is a great contrast to the cake and swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  

Just seeing the mounds of coconut piled on top of the cupcake brings a smile to my face.  If you weren't pro-coconut before I challenge you to try this recipe.  Who knows, you just might change your mind.  

Macarons for barter...

My friend Jessie just returned from a whirlwind month-long tour of Asia with her family. She's a great photographer, so in exchange for teaching me some DSLR tricks and tips I'm making her macarons and chocolate chip cookies. I think it's a fair trade.

Jessie's never tried my macarons before and I hope she likes them. Made her some classic flavors (lemon poppy-seed, pistachio and chocolate) and one I've never made before, mango. I added finely ground freeze-dried mango slices to the macaron batter and mango puree to the buttercream filling. It's a fine line between adding enough puree to get that mango flavor but not so much that the buttercream separates...think it turned out ok.

Still not satisified with the chocolate macaron, so my search continues. Tried several recipes but have gotten inconsistent results across the board: too brownie-like, no feet, super thin crust. When they say macarons are finicky they're not kidding and chocolate is, by far, the diva of them all. It's frustrating, but I'm determined to get it right...come hell or high water. I'll definitely be rejoicing when that day comes.