This mango cake recipe is very close to my heart as I am the one in my family who loves mango to the core. I can eat mangoes in every form, at any time of the day, but I still do not get enough of them. Seriously, I mean it.
My son, like me, loves mangoes. So I decided to surprise him on the first day of his vacation with this luscious mango cake. And, guess what? He loves it more than I do, so we were arguing over the last slice. But my son won in the end because I chose it over my mango love.
If you also love mangoes just like me, you are going to love it. This cake is light, soft, moist and bursting with tropical mango flavor. Whether you are making it for your family, your friends, or just for yourself, this cake won’t disappoint you. I won’t judge you if you make and indulge in an entire cake yourself.
So, grab your ingredients and treat yourself or your loved ones with this mini mango cake. You won’t regret it.
Try my moist vanilla cake, mini red velvet cake, or mini chocolate cake recipe next.
Why will you love this mango cake recipe?
- Perfect for small parties or just to treat yourself.
- Light, fluffy, moist and filled with mango flavor.
- Beginner friendly recipe.
- No fancy ingredients or fancy tools needed.
- Can be made with fresh mangoes or store-bough mango pulp.
- Highly customizable.
- Any mango lovers dream.
How do you make a mango cake recipe?
As always, let us understand the overview before diving into step-by-step recipe.
| Sr. No. | Steps |
| 1. | Make the mango cake. |
| 2. | Prepare your choice of frosting (I am using mango buttercream frosting here). |
| 3. | Assemble and garnish. |
| 4 | Serve. |
Mango cake recipe ingredients
- Unsalted butter – Use regular unsalted butter. Why unsalted? because you can control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. If you don’t have it, use regular butter, but do not use salt at all, otherwise it will be salty. Also, make sure that the butter is softened and at room temperature.
- Oil – Use any flavorless oil available in the pantry in this recipe. I have used oil to make it moist.
- Sugar – This adds sweetness, of course. Use caster sugar or granulated sugar, both are the same. I do not recommend replacing it with icing sugar.
- Eggs – Use a large room temperature egg. If you forgot to take it out at least 30 minutes before, just keep it in hot tap water for 5 minutes and it should be fine.
- Buttermilk – Use store-bought buttermilk (easily available in any local grocery store) or homemade buttermilk by mixing milk and vinegar.
- Mango Pulp / Mango Reduction – This is the star of the recipe. Use Alphonso or kesar mango pulp for best results. Check out my mango cupcake recipe or step-by-step recipe below to see how the mango reduction is made.
- Baking powder – Acts as a leavening agent. Make sure your rising agents are not expired before using. As best practices, keep replacing your baking powder after every 6 months.
- Baking soda – Another leavening agent. This reacts with buttermilk and helps our cake rise.
- Vanilla extract – Use either pure vanilla extract or vanilla imitation, whichever is available in your pantry. This will bring out the flavor and adds sweet aroma to the mango cake.
- Mango extract – This adds deep mango flavor, but this is completely optional. Add if it is available in the pantry or skip it (do not make a trip to the grocery store for this).
- All-purpose flour – Use regular plain flour of any brand. Stay away from cake flour or self-rising flour.
- Salt – Just a pinch. Do not skip it unless using salted butter.
Mango buttercream ingredients
Please have a look at the details about the ingredients required to make mango buttercream in my mango buttercream blog. PS – I have mentioned the step by step recipe below.
Any substitute?
Buttermilk – Replace exact quantity of Greek yogurt or regular yogurt. If it is too thick, add 2 teaspoons of water.
Sugar – Replace sugar with an equal quantity of monk fruit sweetener or allulose.
Tools needed
- Measuring spoons / measuring cups – to measure the ingredients.
- Weighing scale – to precisely measure ingredients.
- Rubber spatula – to scrape the bowl.
- Mixing bowls – to mix cake batter for mango cake.
- Hand beater – to beat butter and sugar and prepare cake batter.
- Three 4-inch cake pans – To bake the cake layers.
- Parchment paper (optional) – to prepare the cake tins.
- Plastic wrap – To cover the cake layers.
- Rotating table – to fill and frost the cake.
- Piping bag and piping tip – to fill the frosting and to decorate the cake.
Mango cake (step-by-step) recipe
Mango cake step-by-step recipe
- Preheat your oven at 350F or 180C and start preparing the 4-inch pan. Coat the pan with either butter-flour ( just like the way I did for many of my vanilla cake) or coat with oil or butter and then a round of parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, sift all dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
- Combine unsalted butter, oil, and sugar into another mixing bowl.
- Start beating it using a hand beater until it is light and fluffy. This will take around 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now, add vanilla extract, mango extract, and egg. Beat once again until it is well combined.
- Add one-third of the sifted dry ingredients to the butter-oil-sugar mixture and beat until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.
- Alternate dry ingredients with milk and beat until it is just combined. Repeat step 6 and 7 until dry ingredients and milk is finished.
- Scrape the bowl whenever needed. Make sure you scrape it from the bottom to combine any remaining flour.
- Beat again for just 15 seconds.
- Divide the batter into three 4-inch prepared tins. Each weighs 113 grams.
- Bake at 350F or 180C for 20 minutes or until it loosens up from the sides and springs back if we lightly press from the top or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and keep it on a wooden board. Let it cool for a few minutes or until you can touch the tins with bare hands.
- Transfer it to a wire rack to cool down completely. Remove parchment paper and let them cool completely.
- Once cooled down, cover 3 mango cakes in cling wrap and freeze them for 30 minutes or until preparing the mango buttercream.
Mango buttercream step-by-step recipe
- Combine mango pulp and water in a saucepan. Heat on low-to-medium heat until it is thick and reduced in quantity.
- Remove from the heat and transfer to the bowl or jar. Refrigerate until fully chilled.
PS – You can prepare this ahead of time and refrigerate it. Skip all the above steps if using freeze-dried mango powder.
- Add softened, room-temperature unsalted butter to a mixing bowl.
- By using a hand beater until it is light and creamy. To do this, start mixing on low speed and gradually increase to medium speed. This will take around 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl in between if needed.
- Add sifted icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Start beating on low speed until it is just combined. Once combined, increase speed and beat for another couple of minutes.
- Repeat until all icing sugar is finished. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Now, add mango extract and salt, and beat for 30 seconds.
- Add the mango reduction or freeze-dried mango powder and beat again on low to medium speed until fully mixed.
- Scrape the bowl and beat again for a couple of minutes. This will incorporate air, making the light and airy buttercream, just the way we want. Do not rush the process.
- Fill it in the piping bag attached with a big round tip.
Assemble
- Take out the cakes from the freezer and remove the cling wrap. Add a few small drops of mango buttercream on a board.
- Place the first layer on it. Add some sugar syrup on top. This will ensure the cake stays moist longer.
- Now, spread a generous amount of mango buttercream frosting on top. Smooth it out using a spatula.
- Repeat above steps for all 3 layers.
- Crumb coat the cake with frosting and freeze it for 15 minutes.
- Add another layer of frosting from the sides and top. Smooth out the edges with spatula.
- Garnish from the top and keep it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Serve
- Cut and serve.
How to serve?
These mango cupcakes taste delicious on their own. Also, pair them with your favorite coffee, or hot chocolate and enjoy.
Watch me making (video)
Storing and freezing instructions for the Mango cake recipe
You can store the plain mango cake or the end product, the filled and frosted mango cake.
I would highly recommend storing the cakes and mango frosting separately. Thaw them and assemble an hour or two before serving.
Either way, here are my recommendations for storing.
Storing instructions
Plain mango cake – As always, cool the cake completely. Cover the individual layers with plastic wrap and keep them in an airtight container.
Store at room temperature for 1 to 2 days or in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Filled and frosted mango cake – Place the cake in an airtight container or in cake carrier and store at room temperature (at cool, dry place) for 1 day and in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
Freeze the mango cake if you want to enjoy it longer (after 5 days).
Freezing instructions
Plain cake – Freeze individually wrapped layer in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag. They stay ok for up to 2 months.
Frosted cupcakes – Firstly, place the frosted cake (or individual slices) on the cookie sheet and freeze it until the frosting is hardened. Then, cover the cake in a plastic wrap followed by aluminum wrap and finally, freeze it in an airtight container or a freezer-safe bag.
If you have more questions, check out my storing tips on storing cakes with buttercream frosting.
Thawing instructions
Plain cake- Defrost the cake layers either in the refrigerator overnight or on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours. Fill and frost with mango buttercream and serve them right away.
Frosted cake – Take out the cake (or individual cake slices) from the freezer, and defrost it either in the refrigerator for 8 hours or on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours, and serve it right away.
Variations
I have filled and frosted this mango cake with the mango buttercream recipe. Feel free to try out different variations. Check out mango cupcake recipe for variations and use them here.
Secret tips to make the mango cake recipe
- Read the recipe – I would highly recommend reading the full recipe before starting. This recipe is made up of very basic pantry staples but just make sure you have everything ready.
- Measure ingredients – Use weighing scale to measure ingredients so that your recipe will turn out the same every single time. Do not just eyeball the ingredients, especially the flour.
- Don’t overmix – While adding flour, mix the batter until you see the last streak of flour. Overmixing will create more gluten, creating dense and tough cake. And we don’t want that. Right?
- Push in the oven – As soon as the batter is ready, divide the batter and push it in the oven immediately. Leaveners will start to react and keeping them longer on the kitchen counter may ruin it texture.
- Use fresh mangoes – Use fresher, the better. It is ok to use frozen mangoes or pulp but fresh is always better.
- Cool the cake layers – Make sure your cake layers are completely cooled down before frosting. Frosting the warm cakes will melt the frosting, resulting a messy affair.
FAQ’s
What type of mangoes to use?
Use either the king of fruit, Alphonso mangoes, harvested in India during summer months, Kesar mangoes, or Mexican Ataulfo mangoes. Use either fresh or frozen mangoes, depending on which season you are making the cake. Alternatively, you can also use tined mango pulp. Just make sure it doesn’t contain additional sugar as an ingredient.
Which frosting pair the best with this mango cake?
For an ultimate mango treat, I have paired it with mango buttercream frosting. But feel free to use either cream cheese frosting (add 3 to 4 tablespoons of mango reduction in this recipe and you will have mango cream cheese frosting) or plain American buttercream frosting.
Can I skip eggs from the recipe? I do not recommend skipping eggs altogether. You need to change or adjust other ingredients accordingly.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to drop a comment below and I will be happy to answer them :).
Want to try some other mango desserts?
- Mango cupcake frosted with mango buttercream.
When are you making it?
You really don’t have to wait until summer to make this delicious mango cake recipe. You can make it during any time of the year by using mango pulp, frozen mangoes, or dried mango powder. So, when are you making it? Do let me know your feedback in the comment section below.
If you post it on Instagram, do not forget to tag me @dessertkatta or hashtag it using #dessertkatta or #dessertkattarecipes.
Recipe card
Moist mango cake recipe
Description
You may make this mango cake with fresh, frozen, or dried mango powder. This scrumptious mango cake is guaranteed to impress your friends. However, keep some for yourself because it only lasts a few seconds.
