“Life is not a fairy tale. If you lose your shoe at midnight- you are drunk .” – Bill Murray.
And the mango mania goes on ! Didn’t I tell you I love the fruit!
What I don’t love so much is making fruit flavoured cakes. Citrus isnt that much of a challenge but most other fruits can get a little tricky when you want to incorporate into the batter itself .
You see, baking is more or less all about the science and measurements. And with fresh fruit , there can be a lot of variables . Is the banana you are using medium like the recipe states or large ? Is the pineapple sweet enough or should the sugar be adjusted. Is the puree too thick or too thin . Is the fruit too ripe or not ripe enough !
And with the hundreds of varieties of mango , this confusion is even more pronounced.
So I prefer making my teacakes with lime or orange , and using other fresh fruits- including my beloved mangoes- in fillings and frostings and other desserts
So then why am I posted a mango sponge cake ? Because when so many of you asked me to, i gotto atleast try right ! And because it tastes good !
Yup. I think after quite a bit of trial and error ( many trials, as many errors ) , I got a mango flavoured cake that has got both good texture and flavour ! Hallelujah !
I used the reverse mixing method for this cake. Instead of beating the butter and sugar , adding the eggs and finally the flour – butter is rubbed into flour and sugar mixture , and the liquids are beaten in. What this does is, over mixing * (and hence gluten formation) is avoided. And the cake turns out soft .
Really soft !
mango sponge cake
Ingredients
- 100 grams or 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour or maida
- 100 grams or 1/2 cup castor sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 42 grams or 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at a room temperature.
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 60 ml or 1/4 cup mango puree from one medium mango
- 2.5 tablespoons milk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 C / 325 F.
- Grease and flour a 6 inch round pan. Line the bottom with parchment (optional )
- In a glass or small bowl , whisk together the mango puree, egg , milk and vanilla until smooth.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, sugar , baking powder and salt .
- Rub in the butter into this dry mixture until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (just rub everything between your hand until its mixed).
- Using an electric mixer or a whisk , whisk the liquid mixture into this .
- Whisk well until smooth.
- Pour batter into pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 35 - 42 minutes until cake springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 5 minutes, remove and cool completely on a wire rack
Notes
My measuring cup is 240 ml.
Skip the salt if using salted butter
I used alphonso mango puree.
You can bake the same recipe in a 7 inch pan for a thinner cake
You can make castor sugar by pulsing once in your mixer to get small granules of sugar ( dont powder)
Didn’t I say it was really soft ! And light. The mango flavour comes through well . You will have to try it to tell me what you thought – is this a hit or a miss ?
Substitute for baking powder??
Hi Pravi… I have never tried it but you could try baking soda
The cake came out like a hard rock! Used exactly the same amount and ingredients, and didn’t beat the batter too much at all. But I didn’t use the electric beater, I used the hand beater and used granulated sugar. Where did I go wrong. I am crying!!!
Hard Rock? So sorry! I can’t think of any reason for the cake to be that dense if you followed the measurements…maybe overmixing? Was the pan size also the same?
Hi tried to make the mango cake. The cake was not fluffy. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Gyanlatha.. Sorry to know the cake didn’t turn out well… A denser cake may be due to over mixing or the mango puree being too thick or too much. How was the taste
Hi, I tried this cake today -the eggless version with 1/4 cup curd. Taste was nice but it was not spongy and didn’t rise much. I baked it in OTG for 35 mins and took it out when tooth pick came out clean. Can you please guide what could have been the reason. Thanks
Thanks for trying the cake Manu ! For a softer eggless cake with more rise next time , please try adding 1/4 tsp baking soda and after you add the flour , do mix only until the flour is incorporated. Hope this helps !
Hello! Recently I bought a mango purée to use as a sweetener for my tea. It’s not very strong and not exactly what I was looking for but since I bought a huge container of it, I need to use it all. I found this recipe and am praying that it will turn out to be my new favorite cake recipe and I will be able to finish my purée in this cake! The problem is I’m not quite sure if it will turn out like yours if our purées are different. I bought mine from here: https://www.amazon.com/Monin-Lemonades-Smoothies-Cocktails-Gluten-Free/dp/B0027ACP7W/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=mango+puree&qid=1587927960&sprefix=mango+pur&sr=8-5
The consistency is like maple syrup. What do you think?
Hi Louise ! Sadly, this will not work here. Although the product is called puree, it seems to be more of an extract or essence . It would work in place of mango essence /extract or vanilla essence/extract in a recipe. Not in a recipe which asks for the actual puree (blended mango pulp or flesh ). Sorry !
How could you forget to write baking soda in the recipe above
Hi Ranjana… I didn’t use baking soda for this cake….
What if I ran out of butter and can’t get some due to corona virus lockdown? Can I use vegetable oil instead? Coconut oil?
Hi Macy… Coconut oil in solid state would be a good substitute . Oil would work as well, with some change in final texture…let me know what you used and how it worked !
I’m 9 and I want to make this any tips?
Hi Zoe! Do use the most flavourful mango puree you can find and try not to overmix… Hope you enjoy the cake! Happy baking!
Hi there. I have no clue what happened to my cakes but they came out completely doughy and dense, not spongy at all, almost a raw texture. Could it be because I added a little extra mango purée? I’m upset because I wasted so much batter.
Hai.
Very tempting cake. Loved it. Can I make pineapple cake with this same recipe. Using pineapple crush instead of mango puree. If so can I expect same texture and softness.
Hi Serene… There will some difference in texture as pineapple crush is thinner than mango puree… But you can give it a try… Will work!
Hi
Can i use normal sugar instead of castor sugar?
Hi Jabeen… Yes, you can. But the regular sugar takes longer to dissolve with the butter and other ingredients. You could also try pulsing the regular sugar in your mixer to get smaller granules. But even without this step, you can use regular sugar
Hi…tried your recipe…cake turned out soft n fluffy…thanks a lot
Really glad to know that!! Thanks Yamini!
I am trying this cake now at this moment for my child birthday tomorrow, who is allergic milk, egg, soy and wheat, using replacer like coconut milk and 1 to 1 baking flour. I am hoping it will turn out to be good.
Your recipes are superb and I like all of them. Your passion for baking gives us many ideas. Thanks for the lovely recipes.
Hai I tried this and worked out really well thanks for sharing these kind of snack item recipes for us.
Thanks Rohit for trying the cake.. Glad you like it!
Hi I baked d mango cake with d available mango it came out really gud but my concern is can v increase d pulp as v could’nt feel d mango in it. If yes how much more can v add.
Hi!
You’ve given 100 gms for both maida and sugar but cup measurements are different for both.
Please clarify.
Hi Shraddha… the density of maida and sugar is different. Maida is lighter, So the amount of maida that fits in one cup will weigh much less than the amount of sugar that will fit in the same cup. So the weights differ. Hope this helps !
Thanks.
I doubled the quantity and the cake tirned out quite decent.
Instead of egg,can we use curd/buttermilk?if yes,how much quantity?also,can we replace apf with whole wheat flour?
Hi Mounika… you can try using 1/4 curd and 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder( instead of 1 tsp baking powder) . I dont think wwf would give such a soft crumb here. You coud give it a try to see if you dont mind the texture!