---
title: "Whole Mandarin Cake"
description: "A cake made by blending three whole mandarins, peel and all, with the eggs, olive oil and sugar, then folding in self-raising flour. Five ingredients, one blender, and a moist, zesty sponge finished with a dusting of icing sugar."
category: "Baking"
cuisine: "British"
serves: "8\" round cake (8 slices)"
prep: "10 mins"
cook: "45 mins"
author: "Thomas Chaplin"
site: "Chaplin Kitchen"
url: "https://chaplinkitchen.com/r/whole-mandarin-cake/"
datePublished: "2026-10-16T22:12:43+01:00"
dateModified: "2026-10-16T22:12:43+01:00"
---

# Whole Mandarin Cake

A cake made by blending three whole mandarins, peel and all, with the eggs, olive oil and sugar, then folding in self-raising flour. Five ingredients, one blender, and a moist, zesty sponge finished with a dusting of icing sugar.

**Category:** Baking · **Cuisine:** British · **Serves:** 8" round cake _(8 slices)_ · **Prep:** 10 mins · **Cook:** 45 mins

**Recipe URL:** https://chaplinkitchen.com/r/whole-mandarin-cake/

## Ingredients

- 3 seedless mandarins _(whole, unpeeled)_
- 2 eggs
- 125ml olive oil _(½ cup)_
- 220g caster sugar _(1 cup)_
- 300g self-raising flour _(2 cups)_
- Icing sugar _(to dust, optional)_

## Method

1. **Heat the oven.** Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan and line an 8" round cake tin with baking paper.
2. **Blend the batter.** Put the mandarins, eggs, olive oil and caster sugar into the blender and blend until completely smooth, with no flecks of peel left.
3. **Fold in the flour.** Pour the mandarin mixture into a large bowl, add the self-raising flour and fold it in until just combined.
4. **Bake the cake.** Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes, until golden and fragrant and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.
5. **Cool and serve.** Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

## Notes

- Every bit of the peel is eaten, so wash the mandarins well. Seedless ones save picking out pips; with any other kind, halve them and take the pips out first, or they turn the cake bitter.
- Blend for longer rather than less — a stubborn fleck of peel is a bitter mouthful.
- Fold the flour in by hand and stop as soon as no dry flour shows. Beating it makes the cake tough.
- Ovens and tins vary, so trust the skewer over the clock, and cover the top loosely with foil if it browns before the middle is done.
- Serve it topped with a few fresh mandarin segments on the icing sugar.
- See also the [Whole Orange Blender Cake](https://chaplinkitchen.com/r/whole-orange-blender-cake/), which does the same with a whole orange but uses oats and maple syrup in place of flour and sugar.