Cinco de Mayo- Mango Ruffle Cake

Because I just made some yummy Strawberry-Margarita Cupcakes, and I wanted my boys to share in the cake I made for Cinco de Mayo this year, I opted to go away from margaritas and towards some other Mexican-inspired flavors.

The cake didn't quite turn out as I'd planned, thanks to some silly mistakes on my part, but I think it turned out pretty well, nevertheless.

What You Need:
For the Cake:
1 Box White (or vanilla or yellow) Cake Mix
3 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup mango puree*
Optional: 
1-2 Tbsp. limeade concentrate
Food Coloring
6" cake pan

For the Icing:
1 cup butter (at room temperature)
1 cup vegetable shortening
1- 2 lb. bag powdered sugar
1/2 cup mango puree*
2 Tbsp. limeade concentrate

*Note: See below for the mango puree instructions. I used frozen mango chunks from the freezer section, defrosted and pureed them.


Prepare the Mango:

I used about 2 cups of frozen mango chunks. (This was less than the entire bag.) This made 1 1/2 cups of mango puree.
Allow the mango to thaw completely, then use an immersion blender (or regular blender) to puree. I used 1 cup of the puree in the cake, and 1/2 cup for the icing.

The challenge is that this will not be completely smooth. So, if you plan to use this puree in your icing, you either want to plan for the chunks (which I did not) or try to strain the chunks, and reserve the smoothest puree for the icing, using the chunky puree in the cake.


Make the Cake:

I always start boxed cake mixes by beating the eggs until their frothy in the mixer.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix for 30 seconds on low to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.

To make the colored layers, divide the batter evenly between four bowls, and add food coloring to each bowl to get the desired color. I will say that the colors seemed to darken when they baked, so you may be able to make the shade of the cake a little lighter when you're coloring the batter, and still get the shade you want (with less added coloring).

I baked the cakes in 6" pans for 25-30 minutes at 350-degrees. If you choose to bake the cake in a different size pan, follow the instructions for that pan for baking.
Just a note: The cakes seemed more dense than a regular boxed cake, and didn't rise as much as I'm used to.

Make the Icing:

Combine the shortening and butter in a medium bowl. Mix on low speed until combined. Add about 1/3 of the bag of powdered sugar. Mix until combined. Add mango puree and limeade. Mix until combined. Add remaining powdered sugar slowly. Mix until combined.
Add coloring, if desired.

Assemble and Decorate the Cake:

Spread a layer of icing between each layer of cake.

Ice a thin layer of white icing on the outside of the cake.
The reason I do this isn't just to add more sugar but because the piped icing ruffles stick better to icing than to the cake itself.

*Note: I purposely spread the icing thin on the sides of the cake. That way I could see where each color of icing should change, to match the icing with the color of the cake layer.

 To decorate, I piped zig-zags using tip #18 corresponding with the color of the layer of cake inside.

I had intended to use tip #104 and do a ruffle cake, but the mango chunks in the icing were too big to get through that small of a tip. Next time, I guess.

Click the Links Below to See:
Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes
Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
How to make a cake mix taste homemade

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