If you haven’t tried adding freeze-dried fruit powders to cake mixes, now is the perfect time. This mango cake showcases how powerful and concentrated fruit powders can be when incorporated into batters and frostings.
The cake’s appearance is so pretty you might hesitate to slice it—until you see the layers inside.
I love the look of this cake so much I didn’t want to cut it!
Inside are tender layers of mango cake with a quick fresh mango compote between them.
Mango cake and a quick fresh mango compote too!
Buttercream filling and icing with coconut all over the outside!
If you can source freeze-dried fruit, try grinding it into powder—just a quick pulse in a spice grinder will give you an intensely flavored fruit powder. It’s perfect for adding fruit flavor without extra liquid that would change batter texture.
Freeze-dried fruit powder delivers the most concentrated fruit flavor you’ll encounter, and it works beautifully in both cake batters and buttercreams.
It’s the most concentrated form of fruit flavor you will ever try!
Fresh fruit purees add moisture and can make cakes denser or rubbery, so using a powdered form avoids those problems—this recipe was developed specifically with fruit powder in mind.
Notes for Success:
Substitutes and texture: This cake is formulated for fruit powder. If you absolutely cannot obtain freeze-dried mango powder, consider making a banana-based cake (use mango puree in place of banana puree), but be aware the texture will differ. Fruit purees add liquid and tend to produce a denser crumb.
Applesauce: The applesauce replaces part of the oil. If you don’t have applesauce, you can substitute 5 tablespoons more oil instead.
Flour choice: The recipe uses a combination of all-purpose and cake flour to produce a stable yet tender crumb. If you don’t have cake flour, you can use all-purpose flour only—use a total weight of 370g for best results.
Mango compote: Use fresh or frozen mango for the compote and adjust the sugar to taste. If your mangoes are very sweet, you can omit the sugar.
You can pair this cake with any buttercream you prefer. Below are the original recipe details and a suggested “no-shortening” buttercream.
No Shortening Buttercream
There’s no specific video for this mango cake, but there is a video demonstrating the same technique using strawberry fruit powder, which shows the process for building and finishing the layers.
For more summer and fruit cake recipes see the related photos below.
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- Mango Coconut Cream Cake
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- Chantilly Cake
Coconut Mango Cream Cake
Triple Strawberry Cake Recipe
Vegan Chantilly Cake
Mango Cake
Pin Recipe
Ingredients
- For the Cake Batter:
- All Purpose Flour 2 cup 250g
- Cake Flour 1 cup 120g *see notes above
- Mango Powder from freeze dried mango fruit 10 Tablespoons (32g
- this is from 4 of the small snack packages of freeze dried fruit
- Baking Powder 4 teaspoons
- Salt 1 teaspoon
- Egg Replacer 2 teaspoon *I used Bob’s Red Mill
- Granulated Sugar 1¾ cup 350g
- Vegetable Oil ½ cup 118ml
- Applesauce 8 Tablespoons 140g
- Soy Milk or other plant milk 2 cup 480ml
- Vinegar 2 teaspoons 10ml
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons 10ml
- For the Buttercream:
- Vegan Butter 2 cups 4 sticks (454g)
- Confectioners Sugar 4 cups 500g
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons 10ml
- Butter Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons 10ml *optional
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- For the Mango Compote *optional
- 2 Large ripe mango, peeled & roughly chopped (about 2 cups fresh or frozen)
- 2 Tbs water
- 2 Tbs sugar *optional
- Flaked Coconut for garnish *optional 1½ cups
Instructions
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Prepare the mango compote: Place mango chunks, water and optional sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the mango breaks down. Cool slightly, then puree until smooth. Chill while you prepare the cake.
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Make the cake batter: Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line your pans.
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Grind the freeze-dried mango to a fine powder in a spice grinder. Combine plant milk and vinegar, whisk and let sit 5 minutes to thicken.
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In a large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, applesauce, vanilla and the thickened plant milk until smooth.
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Sift together the flours, mango powder, baking powder, salt and egg replacer. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until smooth.
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Divide batter into prepared pans and bake 25 minutes at 350°F, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans, then transfer to a rack or platter.
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Prepare the buttercream: Beat vegan butter until smooth, add salt and whip on high. Add sifted confectioners’ sugar all at once, mix on low to incorporate, then whip on high for 3 minutes. Add extracts, scrape sides, and whip another 2 minutes.
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Assemble the cake: Spread buttercream and mango compote between each layer (reserve about ½ cup compote for topping if desired). Frost the outside with remaining buttercream and press flaked coconut around the sides and top.
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Optional: top with extra compote and fresh mango slices.
Notes
Refrigerate for up to 1 week for longer storage; bring to room temperature before serving.