Christmas is only a month away, so we thought you’d like some new recipes for the holidays. Pinoycentric’s food correspondent Chef Nouel Omamalin of the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa shares some of his kitchen experiments beginning with this one.

Have some holiday recipes and stories to share? Send them to pinoycentric@gmail.com.

Not many people like to eat fruitcake, and yet every year, it always ends up at our Christmas tables, possibly a gift from someone who also didn’t want to have it.

Chef Nouel shares with us a new twist to the fruitcake, using a Filipino ingredient that we love so much: mango. This is a simple adaptation of the lemon cake recipe developed by Lenotre Paris.

Ingredients
175g butter, melted and brought to room temperature
435g eggs, room temperature (about 8 to 9 large pieces)
600g sugar
a pinch of salt
260g sour cream
470g cake flour
10g baking powder
lemon zest from 5 pieces of lemon
500g dried mango, chopped
454g bottle mango jam

Procedures
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line two loaf pans (about 9×4 inches) with greaseproof paper.

2. Using a whisk, combine eggs, sugar and salt until smooth. Stir in the sour cream.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Blend into the egg-cream mixture with a whisk until smooth.

4. Combine the melted butter and zest and stir into the mixture. Dredge the chopped mangoes with flour to keep it from sinking during baking. Fold into the batter.

5. Divide into the two loaf pans. Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes.

6. Reduce heat to 160C. Take the loaf pans out and quickly make an incision across the length of the pan (lengthwise). Return to the oven and finish baking for another 30 to 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted comes out clean.

7. Prepare the mango syrup by combining one liter of boiling water with 500g sugar. Mix well until sugar is completely dissolved. Whisk in the mango jam and strain.

8. When the baking is done, immediately pour about 500ml mango syrup onto the freshly baked cake. Make sure to evenly distribute the liquid on top of the cake.

Cool down and chill before serving. This lemon-mango fruitcake is best served with whipped cream and perfect for merienda [snacks] with tsokolate-e.

Some notes from the chef
Candied green and red cherries may be decorated on top of the cake to give it a more familiar fruitcake finish. The mango syrup may also be mixed with a quarter of brandy. This loaf is best kept chilled and will last for about a month if kept moist.

Enjoy!

Next week: More recipes that would make perfect holiday gifts