Mango and Peach Charlotte Cake

I first got to know about a charlotte cake in one of the recipe pages found in a local magazine. I was attracted to the pretty cake as it looks very elegant with the ring of ladyfingers (sponge fingers), strawberries and chocolate toppings. I have been wanting to try it, but it took me a while before I could manage to get ready-made sponge fingers. I knew I have to rely on store-bought ones as I would never be able to achieve the standard and even shapes of the biscuits if I were to make them from scratch. Thanks to fellow blogger, Elyn, for telling me where to get them. Even then, it took me three separate trips to different branches before I spot them on the shelves!

I decided to make this as dessert for my "peng yu" (a.k.a friends in Hokkien) when we planned to meet up at my place. Since they are my peng yus, I was sure they wouldn't mind if the cake was not up to standard ;)

I was planning to make a strawberries version, but was not able to get any strawberries from the nearby fruit stalls. Since there were several types of mangoes available at the stalls, I came up with this mango and peach version. The recipe that I have on hand is for a mousse filling, which is made with eggs, milk and thicken cream. I didn't like the idea and went on to use the same yogurt cake recipe instead. I replaced the plain yogurt with a low-fat peach & mango flavoured one and added in chunks of fresh mangoes in between the filling to enhance the taste.

As I am not very good at cake decorating, I topped the cake with canned peach slices. This also saved me a step to prepare the sugar syrup meant for dipping the sponge fingers. I merely used the syrup from the can :)

I manage to assemble the cake without using a cake ring or a springform pan. This was done by lining a normal cake pan with a layer of foil, then place a cake cardboard on the foil inside the pan. Once the cake was chilled, I simply lift up the cake from the pan and removed the foil.

By the way, my family and friends liked this supposedly "healthy" dessert, and I quite like the filling, which is light and refreshing :)

I also made a batch of cut-out cookies for my friend's kids...there is a layer of Poohs and Piglets hiding underneath the Mickeys and Minnies. Hope they'll like them!


Mango and Peach Charlotte Cake

Ingredients:
(makes a 7” cake)

1 packet sponge finger biscuits, halved crossways
1 can peach slices
100g peach and mango flavoured yogurt
150ml Vitagen (peach flavour)
150ml non-dairy whipping cream
1 tbsp gelatin
2 tbsp sugar (original recipe calls for 3 tablespoon)
150ml water
1 cup fresh mango chunks

Method:

1. Dip sponge fingers in syrup from canned peach syrup. Arrange flat side around inside and base of prepared tin. (If you prefer the sponge fingers to be crisp and crunchy, you may choose not to dip them in the syrup).
2. Sprinkle gelatin over water in a bowl. Add in sugar and stand the bowl in a pan of simmering water, stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool.
3. Mix yogurt and vitagen and add in cooled gelatin solution. Mix well.
4. Whip non-diary whipping cream till mousse-like. Add in the yogurt mixture to the whipped cream and mix well.
5. Pour one-third of filling over the biscuit base. Top with mango chunks, then remaining filling. Refridge till set. Decorate top with peach slices.