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5. Make the glaze: Place the confectioners’ sugar in a small mixing bowl and whisk in the 3 tablespoons of apricot nectar to make a spoonable glaze. Slide the cake onto a cake plate and spoon the glaze over the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze set for 10 minutes, then slice and serve the cake.

Keep It Fresh! Store this cake, in a cake saver or under a cake dome, at room temperature for up to one week. Freeze the cake, wrapped in aluminum foil, for up to six months. Let the cake thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Lemon Love

I cannot bake without lemons on hand. Just to know they are there to pick up the flavor of fruit cakes, add contrast to spice cakes, a bit of attitude to chocolate cakes. Don’t just think “lemon cake” with lemons. You’ll be surprised what a little lemon zest or juice can do to just about any cake.

Thinking Outside the Bundt

And you thought a Bundt pan was used only for baking? When not baking cakes here are other ways to use your Bundt pan:

• Fill a lightly oil-misted Bundt with a gelatin mixture and chill it for a fancy mold. To unmold it, fill the sink with warm water and place the Bundt in it briefly until the gelatin shakes loose.

• Use it to bake meat loaf and not cake. Mist the Bundt with cooking oil first and the meat loaf will pop right out after it’s baked.

• Make Rice Krispies Treats and press them into miniature Bundt pans, let them harden, then remove them. Again, mist the Bundts with cooking oil first.

• Fill it with water and freeze it for a large ice block on which to pile boiled shrimp. Immerse the Bundt in warm water briefly to loosen the ice.

• Fill the Bundt with water then add a handful of cranberries and some sprigs of pine and freeze for a holiday punch mold.

CAROLYN’S MANGO CAKE

CAROLYN SEERGY’S appreciation of mango began when she was growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and would go to the local ice cream shop in the dog days of summer. “They always had some new, exotic flavor to try and it was an adventure to see what the new offerings were. That’s where my love of mango and coconut sorbet was formed.” Just like that mango sorbet, this cake is perfect for ending summer evenings. Garnish it with toasted coconut.

serves:

12 to 16

prep:

20 minutes

bake:

45 to 50 minutes

cool:

30 to 40 minutes

Vegetable oil spray, for misting the pan

Flour, for dusting the pan

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow or vanilla cake mix

1 package (3 ounces) lemon or mango gelatin

½ cup plus 3 tablespoons mango nectar (see Notes)

½ cup cream of coconut (see Notes)

½ cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust it with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, lemon or mango gelatin, ½ cup of the mango nectar, the cream of coconut, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the batter is thick and smooth, 2 minutes longer, scraping down the side of the bowl again if needed. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula, and place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and the top springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the Bundt pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool 15 to 20 minutes. Leave the oven on.

4. Spread the coconut out in a baking pan and place it in the oven to toast until light brown, watching to see that