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Well, it’s a little demoralizing to say it, but this cake was not fabulous.  It wasn’t by any means hideous, either.  The icing tasted assertively of avocado, which was a bit strange, and the mango flavor of the cake was not pronounced enough.  I can see why Alton Brown put lemon extract in his icing.  One of the many party guests who tasted the cake thought another flavor in the icing would have been an improvement, too, suggesting pistachio or mint.  After I made the cake, I got the feeling there would need to be more acid on the plate when the cake was served, so I made a mango coulis to go under each cake slice.  That helped.

First, the good news.  The cake itself was moist, but not flavorful enough.  If I make it again, I’ll be adding some chopped, dried mango and maybe some toasted almonds or pistachios.  The texture of the avocado icing was lovely, probably because I added a stick of softened butter to it, and ended up using an entire pound of confectioner’s sugar.  And if I make the icing again, I’ll definitely add another flavor, like Alton’s suggestion of lemon, or my friend’s suggestion of pistachio.

The bad news, which really isn’t that bad, was that every time someone took their first bite of the cake, they wore an expression that waivered somewhere between contemplation and confusion.  When I serve a dessert, I like to see an expression that hints at rhapsody, accompanied by “mmm.”  Is that so much to ask of a dessert?  I think not.  The Tropical Thrill Cake is not there yet.