'Tis the mango season and most Jamaicans can name their favourite in a heartbeat; East Indian, Tommy Atkins, number eleven, hayden, black mango, common mango, sweetie-come-brush-me, robin, St Julian (Julie) or Bombay, among others. While it's a bit of a cliche, my preference is Bombay, and every year I look forward to the ones my mother brings me from Clarendon. It's now to the point where my culinary snobbery prevents me from enjoying all other genus of mangoes.

My interest goes beyond the au naturel way of cutting a Bombay around the middle, scooping out the yellow flesh with a spoon, and sucking its juicy seed. I have found that when it comes to using ripe mangoes in cooking, that the Bombay does produce the best results, with an intensity that seeps through even ice cold sorbet. (The relevance of this, is that food loses flavour as it cools).

Fruit is typically used more in desserts than in savoury dishes, and the Bombay's sweetness, lends itself perfectly to cakes, mousses, ice creams, tarts, and the like. In truth, I don't believe that I have ever put together a finer cake than my Lemon Victoria mango cream sponge. It's brought fresh meaning to the traditional Victoria sponge cake, and an even fresher and more lip-smacking meaning to Bombay mangoes!

Lemon Victoria Mango Cream Sponge:

12oz butter

12oz white sugar

Zest of 1 large lemon (optional)

6 eggs

12oz self-raising flour

A little water

500ml heavy cream, whipped

4-5 Bombay mangoes

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two nine-inch cake pans, round or square, with baking parchment.

2. Cream the butter with an electric mixer until very soft and pale yellow.

3. Add sugar and continue to mix until well incorporated into the butter.

4. Add the lemon zest.

5. Add one egg and one tablespoon of flour, and mix well before adding the next egg and tablespoon of flour, and so on.

6. Fold the remaining flour in with a large spoon, along with a little water to form dropping consistency (a big dollop of mixture will slowly fall off the spoon).

7. Divide the mixture between both pans, use a knife to smooth off the top of each, and place on the middle shelf in the oven for 25 minutes until just firm to touch.

8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on to wire racks.

9. Peel off the paper and cool completely.

10. Slice both cakes through the middle, crossways, so you are left with four layers

11. Place one layer on a cake platter and spread whipped cream on top.

12. Put a second layer on top, spread with cream and top with half the mango flesh.

13. Put the third layer on top and spread with cream.

14. Finally place the fourth layer on the top, spread the remaining cream all over the cake, and top with the remaining mango.

Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. It's delicious on its own or with mango sorbet.

Mango Sorbet

6 Bombay mangoes

3/4 cup white sugar

2 cups water

2 egg whites

1. Place the mango flesh in a food processor and whiz to form a smooth puree.

2. Dissolve the sugar in water over a low heat, remove, put in a large bowl and cool in the refrigerator or freezer.

3. Whiz the mango puree, cold sugar syrup and egg whites in a blender.

4. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn for 30 minutes until a delicious sorbet is made.

5. Keep in a plastic container in the freezer until ready to serve.