Mango Yogurt Cake

Made this for my cousin brother's birthday last week. Erm... I don't like the recipe, to me the taste was just so so. The worse part of this cake was actually the difficulties in preserving the mangoes in order for them to say and look fresh.

I got this recipe book from MC, she said it's my birthday present, so early. Anyways, she actually bought this for me more for reference on cake decoration. I agree with her, the recipes do not really look like they are all workable. These are the kind of recipes which you know requires some tips on techniques but are not published in the book.

The cake recipe of this particular cake I made looked fine and the cake mixture also appeared to be very "promising". Even the cake rise to a very desirable height and looked very impressive. But the cake actually sank a lot after a while. This picture was taken mid way of the cake cooling and it has sank a bit already, but it sank more later.

Nevertheless, since this cake requires fillings, the sinking was actually not a major problem. Now to the fillings which is simply mixing the mangoes with yogurt and adding whipped cream to give it the required consistency.

Again, the ingredient plainly said 2 mangoes which will actually result in a variance in the filling's consistency depending how big are your mangoes. The filling is a bit watery for me.

For assembling this cake, you do really need to have the cake sandwiched with the sponge cake in a cake tin because the cake cannot hold it's shape and the fillings will flow out. I had refrigerated the cake overnight after assembling it and thank goodness the cake appeared sturdy enough. Otherwise, no birthday cake, oh no...

Then it was the decorating of the cake, which I was initially really confident that it will turn out extremely impressive. The cake was first spread with whipped cream. The recipe didn't specify, but I supposed one would have to be able to figure our that the mangoes will not stick on the cake without some "aid".

Then lined with mangoes... like so.

But, as I mentioned, the preservation of the mangoes was not given in the recipe book. I had made mango cheesecake before and the mangoes I used for decorating the cake were glazed to give it the shine and "fresh" look. However, the mangoes will still turn slightly darker due to oxidation. This time, I thought glazing would be good enough - the recipe book briefing mentioned cover mango with glazing jelly. So, I was really upset when the mangoes turned really brown and I nearly didn't want to give the cake to cousin bro.

So, after some discussions, MC and BIL said next time soak the cut mangoes in ice water with some lemon juice before they are used. Then of course finish with a layer of glazing. Any idea how you can effective preserve the mangoes? Do tell!