Archives for October 2016

When you’ve been sent some bottles of refreshing Grace Foods Aloe Drink to try and you want explore what you can do with it, apart from enjoy drinking it, then what else can you do, except make a deliciously moist and tasty cake?

Well, this is exactly what happened recently and exactly what I did. So, read on, get your apron on, your ingredients out and enjoy some time in the kitchen before tucking into a slice (or two) of this deliciously moist cake.

Cake:

• 85g Unsalted butter
• 180g Caster sugar
• 2 medium sized eggs
• 1tsp Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract
• 60ml Coconut milk
• 30ml Farringtons Yellow Mellow Rapeseed oil
• 180ml Mango purée
• 190g Plain flour
• ¼tsp Salt
• ½tsp Bi-carbonate of soda
• ½tsp Baking powder

Glaze:

• 50g Caster sugar
• 60ml Grace Mango flavoured Aloe Refresh Aloe Vera Drink

Icing:

• 2½tsp Grace Mango flavoured Aloe Refresh Aloe Vera Drink
• 100g Icing sugar
• ½tsp Mango purée

1. Heat the oven to 160ºC (140º Fan).
2. Butter and flour a 6 cup Bundt© tin.  I used the Nordicware Anniversary tin that you can find on Amazon.
3. In a stand mixer, or using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully combined.
5. Add the vanilla extract, coconut milk, rapeseed oil and 120ml of the mango purée and beat thoroughly for 4-5 minutes on a medium speed until it has increased in volume and is creamy.
6. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, salt, bi-carbonate of soda and baking powder.
7. Mix half of the flour into the wet mixture until just combined.
8. Add the remaining 60ml of the mango purée and fold together.
9. Fold in the final half of the flour gently.
10. Pour the mixture into your Bundt© tin and smooth the surface level.
11. Bake for 65-70 minutes until the cake has just started to shrink from the edges of the tin and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the thickest part of the cake.
12. Allow to cook in the tin for 5 minutes, whilst you make the glaze.

14. In a small saucepan, heat the caster sugar and Aloe Vera Drink until boiling, then reduce the heat to a rolling boil and the syrup has reduced by half.
15. Using your skewer, make a series of small holes in the flat surface of the cake and slowly spoon half of the glaze over the cake, allowing it to soak in fully.
16. Invert the tin onto a wire cooking rack and prick the top with your skewer all over then, gently and slowly spoon the other half of your glaze over the top of the cake, again allowing it to soak in fully.

17. Leave the cake to cool completely.
18. Mix together the Aloe Vera Drink and mango purée, then sieve the the icing sugar into it, mixing thoroughly until you get a thickish icing.
19. Gently pour the icing over the top of the cake, allowing it to drizzle down the outside edge and into the centre hollow.

You can find mango purée and coconut milk in the international food aisle of your local supermarket.  I tend to use my Kenwood Major Titanium stand mixer to make cakes in if it involves beating the mixture for several minutes as it leaves me to get on with setting up the next stage of my preparation.  If it’s something that only needs a very quick mix, then I use my Kenwood K-Mix hand mixer instead.

Grace Foods sent me some bottles of their Aloe Refresh Aloe Vera Drinks to sample.  I was under no obligation to develop any recipes or provide a review of their products in return for these drinks.