Mango and Lime Posset

A celebration of mango season

This issue of the newsletter is sponsored by Wilfa

Are you team simple bake or team project bake? Do you prefer something you whip up in minutes or something you spend an afternoon pulling together? For me personally, it all comes down to time. Unsurprisingly, for someone who bakes for a living, spending an afternoon in the kitchen baking, with some music on or a podcast playing in the background, is my idea of a good time. It is the style of baking that got me hooked in the first place, the type of baking I find meditative; when you disappear into the kitchen and forget about everything else for a few hours. Sometimes, however, a quick-fire dessert that can be whipped up with expediency is what's called for and sometimes, after spending the entire day working in the kitchen, the last thing I want to do is head back into the office (can the kitchen be classed as my office?) and make something else that takes hours. Luckily I won't be making you choose today, I have recipes to satisfy both urges.

Firstly I have an incredibly simple mango and lime posset, a perfect recipe when you’ve got friends coming over, you’ve got a whole meal to create and want to spend more time with them than stuck in the kitchen. And for Second Helpings subscribers there is the polar opposite, a really special recipe for a white mocha tart, a spin on a classic custard tart spiked with coffee.

I am very lucky that in my neighbourhood we have a mango shop. Yes you read that correctly, a shop that sells nothing other than mangoes. It opens for just a few months a year, when mangoes are in season, and it's simply boxes upon boxes of mangoes piled up. They sell a plethora of different varieties, imported every few days from Pakistan and India. For some unknown reason they never sell alphonso mangoes, although I imagine there is a secret password needed to be given access to the limited supply of these gem-like mangoes and I am clearly not worthy. The alphonso mango season runs from mid April to late June and since we are smack bang in the middle of the season I was determined to track some down. The mango shop only has Guatamalen mangoes at the moment, the main supply chain of Indian and Pakistani mangoes doesn’t seem to have kicked in yet this year, and they were disappointingly bland and stringy so I set off on a hunt for the king of mangoes. When I say hunt, I mean I asked Twitter where I could find some in north London. The first place I tried had one solitary box of wrinkly and badly bruised Alphonso’s and at almost £4 a mango I wasn’t spending that kind of money on fruit that looked on the verge of mouldy. Thankfully I hit the jackpot at the second location and with the goods secured I had to decide what to make.

After eating one mango over the sink, trying not to get the juices all over myself, I knew I had to keep things simple, mainly because the flavour was so special and I didn’t want to dilute it, instead highlighting it. I turned to one of my favourite simple dishes, the classic English posset. Posset is a set cream, but instead of using eggs like in the French creme brûlée, or gelatine like the Italian Panacotta, or even cornstarch used in American puddings, this is a cream set with acid. The cream is heated and then mixed with citrus and instead of curdling, like what would happen if made with milk, the fat in the cream thickens the mixture and creates a silky creamy dessert. Depending on the fat level, the amount of citrus and how the cream is heated you can affect the texture of the finished posset.

For this version things are changed up because, as well as cream, I added another element, mango puree. Because the mango has no fat, and the citrus doesn’t curdle the puree, it effectively lessens the lime's ability to thicken the pudding because the amount of cream is reduced to accommodate the mango; the resulting posset is a little looser and lighter than a traditional lemon posset. You could make this recipe with tinned mango pulp but there is nothing better than fresh mango when it’s in season and at its finest. We also want to serve the pudding with some diced mango so making the puree is worth the two minutes of extra work. You simply add the flesh of a couple of mangoes to a blender, I use my brilliant Wilfa Powerfuel XL Blender, and blitz it until smooth. Using Alphonso mangoes means this is incredibly easy because they are so soft and silky smooth. Other varieties can be firmer and fibrous so using a good blender like the Wilfa Powerfuel XL ensures a smooth puree. If using a fibrous variety you will want to pass the resulting puree through a fine mesh sieve to leave you with the smoothest possible puree.

Dont forget you can get 20% off Wilfa Products using my code THEBOYWHOBAKES at checkout on the Wilfa website.

Mango and Lime Posset
Serves 4-6

350ml double cream

100g caster sugar

Zest of 2 limes

75ml lime juice

150g mango puree (2 mangoes)

To Serve

1 mango, diced

To make the mango puree add the flesh of two mangoes to your Wilfa Powerfuel XL Blender and blitz for a minute or until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove any fibrous parts. Measure out 150g of the puree for the recipe, any excess can be used for another recipe. (the puree will freeze well and you can also use any excess in the garnish).

In a small saucepan add the cream, sugar and lime zest. Place over medium heat and heat until the mixture comes to a simmer. Meanwhile mix together the lime juice and mango puree. Remove the cream from the heat and slowly pour in the mango mixture, whisking gently as you do so. As soon as the mango mixture is added you should start to see the cream mixture thicken. Pour the posset mixture into glasses and refrigerate for at least four hours or until fully set.

To serve cut the flesh from a mango and dice it into small cubes and garish atop each posset. If you had a little leftover puree, you can mix the diced mango with the puree and a little extra lime juice to boost the mango flavour. These are great as they are but work great served alongside some shortbread to act almost like a spoon.

Once the posset is made and in the fridge, it can be kept for up to two days but once the mango garnish is added they need serving on the same day.