Golden and moist tropical vegan mango cake, perfect for Summer and using leftover mangos. It takes one bowl to make and is a crowd-pleaser!
This cake is:
- easy to make
- packed with mangoes
- uses no strange or unusual ingredients
Ingredients to make this vegan mango cake
- Flour
- Sugar (preferably regular white or raw because we want the beautiful yellow/orange mango to shine through)
- Melted butter or oil
- Baking powder and soda
- Plant-based milk
- Pureed and chopped mango
- Vanilla extract
You only need one bowl to make this vegan mango cake
After you've blended your mango to make mango puree, the rest is very straight forward.
Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix. Add all the wet ingredients (except the chopped mango) and mix gently. Fold in the mango chunks then bake away!
Why you should put mangoes IN your cake?
Mangoes are surprisingly an AMAZING ingredient for sponge cakes. They make sponge cakes:
- Naturally sweet
- Beautiful and golden
- Oh so moist
Using mango puree gives the sponge cake a beautiful moist and golden crumb. I never thought I'd describe a cake as 'moist and golden' but it's TRUE. However, too much mango puree makes your cake too dense (just like banana bread) so it took a few trials to get this right.
Using mango chunks gives the sponge cake little golden bits of sweetness.
Cream Cheese frosting for the mango cake
The delicate and subtle cream cheese frosting complements the tropical flavour of the mango.
To make the frosting, simply cream all the ingredients in a bowl. We don't want to mix it TOO much as cream cheese softens the more you mix it.
Check out my other vegan Summer desserts:
- Easy Vegan Peach Crisp (oil free)
- Creamy Mango Passionfruit Bars
- Baked Mango Cheesecake Bars
- Mango and Coconut 'Weis' Bars
- Mango Peach Pies
Vegan Mango Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Dry cake ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) plain or all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (150g) cane sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- Pinch of any good-quality salt
Wet cake ingredients
- ~1 ½ cups (360g) mango puree, approx 3-4 medium-size mango (see note 1)
- ⅔ cup (165g) dairy free milk, such as almond, soy or coconut,
- ⅔ cup (150g) melted vegan butter, (see note 2)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ~¾ cup (75g) finely chopped mango, approx ¾ medium-size mango
To decorate (optional)
- ½ cup (120g) vegan cream cheese, chilled
- ½ cup (115g) vegan butter, chilled
- 1 cup (100g) icing sugar
- ~1 cup (100g) mango, sliced (approx 1 medium-size mango)
- Few spoons of berry jam
- Coconut flakes
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line or grease a 20cm (8-inch) round cake tin (see note 3).
- Add all the dry ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Add all the wet ingredients to the bowl (except the chopped mango) and mix until just combined. Fold the chopped mango into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes. If the cake is browning too quickly on top and the middle is uncooked, cover the cake with an aluminium foil or an oven-safe plate. The cake is ready when a skewer can be inserted in the middle and it comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the cake tin for 5 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
To decorate (optional):
- Add the vegan cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar to a bowl. Cream until combined and smooth (see note 4).
- Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake. Decorate with mango, jam and coconut if desired. Serve immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
- I used very ripe fresh mango for the puree. To make the puree, blend the mango and milk to a blender and blend. Use in the recipe as needed.
- Or substitute with a light-tasting oil such as sunflower. However, the butter version tastes better!
- For quicker baking, bake the cake in two 20 cm (8 inch) cake tins for about 25 minutes and spread some frosting in between the cakes. The cake can also be made into muffins.
- Cream cheese frosting is always quite soft. Add more icing sugar for a firmer frosting.
This post was originally published in January 2020 and updated in December 2020.
Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.
my cake came out so dense kind of like bread.. i did some adjustments to the amount of sugar and maybe that has an impact. also i used a 9x1.5 in pan which seemed a bit small for the amount of batter
Reducing the amount of sugar will certainly impact the texture. Sugar doesn't only add sweetness but dramatically changes the texture of a cake. Also yes, your cake pan is definitely be too short for this cake!
I made this cake today with wholemeal spelt flour and it turned out so good all my family enjoyed it and said it was delicious.
Thank you for recipe Anthea. Can't wait to try more of your vegan cakes they all look amazing!!?
So glad it worked with wholemeal spelt flour and your family enjoyed it! Thanks soo much for your feedback and kind words ๐
Hi I haven't made this cake yet, so wondered if I can use tinned mango pulp rather than making it myself?
Hi Jayne, I haven't tried it with tinned mango pulp but from experience with other cakes, it would work ๐
Thank you. Once I have made it I will let you know if it was a success. โบ
Can this be done in two 8" baking pans?
The cake isn't big enough for two 8" baking pans. You'll need to double the recipe for that.
Hi I am not vegan but I do not eat eggs so can I replace you recipes with dairy products , such as diary milk , butter and cream cheese etc.
Yes they should all work fine!