mango upside-down coconut cake

I’m not a partier, a clubber or a groupie. Gosh, I sound downright boring. But what I am is a dinner party or cookout kind of gal. There’s something about food and fellowship that really unite people. A family from our gym invited us over for dinner tonight. And because my mom taught me to never go empty-handed, and because I love to bake, I decided to bring a paleoish dessert.

Last night after the gym, I came home and scrounged around for ingredients and ideas on what kind of dessert to make. I found two mangoes, and used them as a spring board for mango upside-down coconut cake.

I love me some coconut flour, and coconut products in general. And I’ve never made anything with coconut that I didn’t like. But I’m going out on a bit of a limb here by posting the recipe before I’m even able to sample the cake. It smelled great coming out of the oven, so let’s just hope my nostrils and my tastebuds sync up tonight.

(After I made the cake, I realized I could have easily made it dairy-free by using coconut oil instead of butter. Just a thought for those of you who don’t do dairy.)

Mango Upside-Down Coconut Cake

Ingredients

• 2 mangoes
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 cup palm sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 coconut flakes
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1. Peel and thinly slice mangoes, and set aside. (The orange mango was almost over-ripe, while the yellow one was under-ripe. I figured they balance each other out!)

2. In iron skillet, melt 3 tbsp of butter.

3. Stir in 1/4 cup palm sugar, and let it simmer about a minute. Set aside to let cool and turn oven to 350 degrees.

4. Meanwhile, blend/whisk 1/4 cup palm sugar, 1/4 cup coconut oil and 3 tbsp softened butter. (I recently killed my blender, so I resorted to the whisk. If you decide to whisk, make sure your butter is softened because you can see how I warped my whisk!)

5. Whisk in eggs, one at a time.

6. Blend/stir in coconut milk, coconut flakes, coconut flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

7. Place mangoes in skillet on top of butter/sugar mixture. I arranged mine so that the orange and yellow slices alternated, more for flavor than aesthic appeal.

8. Spoon batter on top of mangoes, and spread evenly.

9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

10. Once it cools, use a plate to flip it upside down.

I’ll report back soon on how it tasted!

This recipe is part of Fight Back Fridays,Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Real Food Wednesday.