Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Wicked, Wicked Ways

There are some things in this world that are do devilish, so exotic and strange, that even though you don't fully understand or trust their charms, you're drawn to them. This loaf is one of those. In fact, it's inspiration - a deliciously fragrant, eat-over-the-sink ripe mango just dripping with juice - drew me in so quickly and with such force that the intended victim was instead impaled upon my spoon, rather than enrobed in batter. Thankfully I had a second, equally willing subject standing by in the refrigerator (that I had planned to enjoy as a mid morning snack after baking!), and with a glint of the knife it too was dispatched and bleeding it's sticky nectar over the bamboo cutting board.

Since I was already bewitched by the mango, I began concocting my own sort of black magic... keeping tropical (almost voodoo?), I added a banana, molasses, fresh grated ginger and nutmeg... then went for the jugular. Three secret ingredients made their way into my (ceramic) cauldron, one a fairly common ingredient in my pantry, and two others that were slightly off the radar. For a depth of both colour and flavour, just a hint of my favourite rich cocoa powder was sifted in first. Then, I reached into my stash of 25 flours and withdrew my favourite powder - mesquite flour. The intoxicating aroma reached my nose before the bag was even opened, and once the addition was stirred into the other dry ingredients I knew that I was almost there. All it needed was a nightcap, and the most exotic liqueur I know of - Amarula - fit the bill nicely. By the time the cake made it into the oven I was beyond antsy for it to hurry up and finish already, and the entire time it spent in the firey cavern it perfumed the house with whispers of Caribbean mystique.

As I made my first careful slices into the moist, soft loaf, I knew that something incredible had taken place. This was more than the sum of it's parts, and it was a piece of magic that I could hold onto - until the hungry masses caught wind of it's existence.

Wicked Fruit Quickbread
Serves 12
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
3 tbsp hot water
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tbsp molasses
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp Amarula liqueur
1 medium banana, mashed
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 cup flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp mesquite flour (sub whole wheat if not using)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 large, verging-on-overripe mango, peeled and diced
  1. Preheat oven to 300F, grease a loaf pan.
  2. Combine the flaxseed and water, let stand 5 minutes.
  3. In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, molasses, ginger, vanilla, Amarula and banana until smooth.
  4. Stir in flaxseed mixture and yogurt.
  5. In another bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg.
  6. Add the flours to the wet ingredients, stirring gently to just incorporate.
  7. Fold in the mango pieces.
  8. Bake 60-70 minutes, until tests done.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 169.2
Total Fat: 5.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.7 mg
Sodium: 10.3 mg
Total Carbs: 28.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
Protein: 2.1 g

4 comments :

  1. Great bread recipe! Wish I could have a slice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow that's some wonderfully vivid writing you have going on!! Love it, made me really really want some, it looks like an amazing recipe, and I might try to pick up a mango today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow you created quite a bread & quite a story there!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That bread looks great...and I am not a huge mango fan...but yum!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!