Vegan mango cake

This makes an 8 inch round cake with three layers of sponge

Ingredients

For the sponge:

600g self raising flour

360g caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

450g tinned mango pulp

150ml plant milk

240ml vegetable oil

15ml cider vinegar

A few drops of mango flavouring (Foodie Flavours is a good one)

For the buttercream:

400g vegan butter at room temperature eg Flora Plant Butter or Naturli block (NOT a spreadable butter or margarine, this is too soft)

800g icing sugar

50g tinned mango pulp

A few drops of mango flavouring (Foodie Flavours is a good one)

Mango filling – jams are available in Asian stores and online (LoRUSSo is a good one) or make a mango curd

15g vegan butter

8 g cornflour

90g tinned mango pulp

15g caster sugar

Fresh mango to decorate

Method

If you don’t have mango jam, start by making the mango curd. Gently melt the butter in a pan, remove from the heat and stir in the cornflour until it forms a paste. Add the mango pulp and sugar and put the pan back on the heat. Stir until it begins to thicken, allow to cool and then chill the curd in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line three 8 inch tins, or spray with Release-a-Cake.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl then add the sugar and salt and stir together.  Mix all the wet ingredients including the mango pulp in a large jug.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix as quickly as possible - a quick whisk for 10 seconds will ensure it is fully mixed. Do not overbeat it.

Divide the batter evenly between the three tins and bake for about 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean from the middle of the cake.

Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then remove the cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack. Sit the cakes on their bottoms, not their tops (i.e. the same way up they were in the tins) to cool otherwise they might break apart while cooling.

Mango frosting

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter with a tablespoon of mango pulp until it is smooth. Add the icing sugar gradually, alternating with the mango pulp and add a few drops of mango flavouring to taste. If the buttercream splits, there is too much liquid. If it is too stiff to use, add a little more pulp and beat again. If it is too soft, add more icing sugar and beat again.

Assembling the cake

Level the tops of the cakes and place one layer on a cake board, securing it onto the cake board with a little bit of frosting. Cover the cake with frosting and jam/curd and place another sponge directly on top. Repeat, then place the third sponge face down into the frosting and jam/curd on the lower layer, so that the top of the cake is the smooth base of the sponge.

Apply a thin layer of frosting to the sides and top of the cake. This is the crumb coating and it will catch any crumbs, preventing them from showing on the outside of the finished cake.

Fill a large piping bag with the rest of the frosting using a large petal nozzle (and apply a thick layer of frosting to the sides and top. Smooth this with a cranked palette knife and then with a scraper If you dip the scraper in hot water and dry it, it will help to achieve a smooth finish.

For a ripple effect, hold a cranked palette knife gently against the side of the cake at a 45 degree angle on the turntable and move the turntable slowly to create a groove.

Use any leftover frosting to add swirls to the top of the cake and decorate the top with fresh mango.