Warm Mango Upside-Down Cake

I love mango season. I'm sure I spend half the summer standing over the kitchen sink, sucking on mango stones, juice dripping from my chin down to my elbows. Alas, the season is just about over, but I still had time to make this lovely old-fashioned cake before they are gone for another year. There are very few recipes that would entice me to bake with mangoes. To me, mangoes are best enjoyed fresh and unadulterated (and over the sink). But this recipe is an exception. It's just so darn good.

Please excuse the crummy photography, I had to borrow a camera.

Warm Mango Upside-Down Cake
from Belinda Jeffery's 100 Favourite Recipes

For the cake:
190g unsalted butter, softened
190g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
100g almond meal
90g self raising flour

For the topping:
80g unsalted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
pinch salt
1 large just-ripe mangoes

To serve:
golden syrup or apricot jam, for glazing
cream

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 24cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

For the topping:
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the brown sugar and salt and stir until smooth. Pour this mixture into the cake tin and tilt it to coat evenly.

Cut the cheeks of the mangoes away from either side of the stones, then peel each cheek. Slice them into 5mm slices and arrange them over the topping in the tin.

For the cake:
Put the butter and caster sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it for 6 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add the vanilla and mix.

In another bowl, combine the almond meal and flour. Fold the almond mixture into the butter mixture in two batches. Gently dollop the batter over the mangoes and spread it evenly.

Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. When it's ready, take it out of the oven and leave it to settle on a cooling rack. After a few minutes, gently loosen the cake around the edges of the tin. Leave it for a couple more minutes, then invert it onto a serving plate.

Brush the cake all over with warmed golden syrup or apricot jam and serve it warm with lashings of fresh cream.