Vegan Mandarin Cake – easy to make, super refreshing and vegan friendly dessert

It is an up side down cake which is super refreshing and vegan friendly but most of all easy to make. If you have mandarin, oranges, kiwis or bananas you can make this in a hour and serve it to your guests.

Winter time is a season of citrus fruits. I’m lucky enough that I’m getting each season from my colleague fresh and natural fruits right from Neretva valley, it is the very south of Croatia. But how to utilize all of that fruit in short period of time?

As I got big quantities of mandarins, clementine, oranges, lemons and grapefruits it was impossible to utilize all of that in next 10 days and to take the most of their freshness and flavors. We drank a lot of lemonade, tea with lemon juice, fresh squeezed orange juice. However I wanted to make something different.

First opportunity was during Christmas holidays when my sister come to visit us. She is a heavy duty vegan for years now. So this was the perfect cake choice and perfect timing. Only one ingredient I didn’t have in my kitchen and that is almond milk (or any other vegan substitute for milk). Everything else is common even for people with non-vegan diet. Cake is simple, easy to make and you can eat it wile warm 😉

In cold winter time you can serve this cake with hot tea with lemon juice and cinnamon. Enjoy!

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Ingredients

• TOPPING

• 6 mandarins (or as much to cover bottom of the tin)

• 2 tbsp of margarine

• 2 tbsp of caster sugar

• CAKE DOUGH

• 1 cup (240 ml) of almond milk

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) of apple vinegar

• 2 tsp of vanilla extract

• 1/3 cup (80 ml) of vegetable oil

• 1 & 3/4 cup (225g) of plain wheat flour

• 2 tsp (7g) of baking powder

• 1 cup (200g) of caster sugar

• GLAZE

• Vegan orange jam

• 2 tbsp of water

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Directions

• Preheat your oven to 180 C. Prepare 10” diameter sealed loose bottom cake mold/tin. Make sure it definitely is a sealed one or the juices from the fruit will leak out. I used baking paper at the bottom.
• Spread in a thin layer the margarine into the sides of cake mold and sprinkle over tit the caster sugar.
• Peel and cut your mandarins into 3 pieces horizontally. Lay them cut side down onto bottom of the cake mold, fill any gaps with smaller pieces of mandarin, fill as much gaps possible. Set aside while you are preparing cake mixture.
• Combine all the wet ingredients together.
• In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients and stir them well. Pour in the milk mix and stir lightly so that all ingredients combine.
• Pour it into the cake mold and give it a few little taps on the kitchen surface to remove air pockets.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes.
• When it’s done, allow it to slightly cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the mold.
• Before serving, glaze the cake with melted jam. In small pot place (in this case vegan) orange jam and add a couple tablespoons of water to loosen it. Lightly spread over mandarins when you flip over the cake.