For Chikie

It is my sister’s birthday today. Though Suganthi is her name, I call her Chikie and she calls me Chumie. Well, the story behind these nicknames goes back to about more than 25 years ago. There was this Malay language puppet show on television called Chumie dan Chikie, which means Chumie and Chikie. We both were fans of this show. Hence, our father said that I am Chumie and my sister is Chikie. Since then, those names stuck. It’s just the both of us who call ourselves by those names. The rest of the family does not.

I thought of baking something for her. After a lot of thinking, I decided to bake mango cake. I have never baked this cake before but then, it turned out to be very soft, light and moist with a mild mango flavour. For the aroma, I have added mango essence. The reason is because the aroma of mango comes solely from the skin. The flesh does not have any aroma.

Mango Cake

What do we need:

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup mango purée
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp mango essence

How do we do it:

Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Stir in the mango purée, lemon juice and the essence. Add in the sifted flour mixture and milk alternately, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

Pour the mixture into a greased and flour or paper lined pan. Bake at 175° C for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and leave the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, cool completely on a wire rack.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHIKIE