If you live in south Florida, then you most definitely know what summer is synonymous with....

MANGOES. Lots and lots Mangoes!

You get mangoes from your friends.

You get mangoes from your co workers.

You get mangoes from your very awesome mother in law that has a huge mango tree in her backyard. Yum.

Luckily for me, I LOVE mangoes, so having an overabundance of delicious ripe mangoes at my disposal is a non-issue for me. Haha.

I usually don't waste precious mangoes on recipes because I much rather eat the flesh right off the fruit but this past week I was inspired to create a vegan paleo mango cupcake recipe.

Mostly because I had a few overly ripe mangoes that were going to go bad soon, but also mostly because it was said mother in law's birthday and I wanted to surprise her with a healthy homemade cupcake for her social distancing drive-by birthday parade (aren't these so much fun right now?)

Enter: Vegan Cardamom Cupcakes With Mango-Date Filling and Frosting.

what you need to make these vegan cardamom cupcakes with mango-date filling and frosting:

The base of these cupcakes is made with cassava flour. I've been hooked on cassava flour for a while now for many reasons. For starters it's a vegan, paleo and gluten free flour which means it's great for those individuals who have specific dietary restrictions. But I also love it because it's such a versatile flour.

You can make all kinds of things with cassava flour, for example, these cupcakes and also these homemade clean tortillas. I've also made nacho chips, empanadas, and my most latest creation - an ice cream cone (I'll be sharing those recipes on here soon I promise).

There are several types of cassava flours out in the market right now but my favorite brand is Anthony's Organic Cassava Flour. I have also heard great things from Otto's cassava flour, but the downside is that it's not organic and more expensive per ounce than the Anthony's brand. You can find both of these on Amazon.

The rest of the ingredients are common vegan/paleo/gluten-free ingredients that you may already have in your kitchen or pantry. If not, some of them can be found on Amazon and I've included links to my favorite brands.

For the cupcake batter:

• maple sugar or coconut sugar
• coconut flour
• baking soda
• cardamom powder (it's a spice (like cinnamon) that pairs really nicely with mango flavor - you can leave it out if you don't have it.)
• coconut cream from a can - make sure it is mixed well. We want to use all parts of the cream not just the thick part.
• coconut oil
• vanilla flavoring or extract - I prefer to use "flavoring" because it's alcohol free. If it's labeled extract it most likely has alcohol in the ingredients, but if that doesn't bug you no big deal.

For the mango date filling: 

We're keeping things really simple for the filling.

Just three ingredients - mango, dates, and a little bit of apple cider vinegar to bring out the sweetness of the mango!

I prefer to use fresh mangoes for this but if all you've got are frozen, those will work too, just bring it to room temperature first.

For the mango frosting:

You're going to have a little less than 1/2 cup of mango date filling left over so we're putting it to good use and making the frosting out of that (nothing goes to waste!). We're also adding coconut cream (just the creamy bit this time) and coconut oil to help thicken the frosting a bit.

That's it!

How to make these vegan cardamom cupcakes with mango date filling and frosting:

Making these mango filled cardamom cupcakes is really easy!

Make the mango date filling first:

I recommend making the mango date filling first so that you can place it in the fridge to chill while the cupcakes are baking.

I recommend you use a food processor because there is very little liquid. Sometimes blenders have a hard time blending ingredients that don't have much liquid added to them. But feel free to experiment!

Then make the cupcakes:

The cupcakes are very easy to make as well. All you have to do is combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl until you have a nice smooth batter. The batter will resemble pancake batter in thickness. I use a 1/4 measuring cup to pour the batter into the cupcake pan. Remember to leave about a 1/4 inch of room up top to allow room for the cupcake to rise. This amount will make about 7 cupcakes.

You will bake cupcakes at 325F for 25 minutes. I found that baking them at a higher temperature (350F) made for really dry cupcakes so lowering the heat was key.

Once the cupcakes are out of the oven they will be really soft and chewy. Let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to allow them to harden.

Fill and Frost the cupcakes: 

Once the cupcakes are cool to the touch, you can use a cupcake corer or a knife to cut out a circle in the middle of the cupcakes. Use about one teaspoon of mango date filling and fill each cupcake. Then using the left over filling, make the frosting!

Storing and serving these vegan paleo cardamom cupcakes

These cupcakes are best kept stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Due to the fact that we're using coconut oil and coconut cream, the cupcakes will get a bit dense after chilling in the fridge. They still taste amazing, but if you like them a bit on the softer side, then just let them sit out in room temperature for a bit before serving.

Want to see more vegan mango recipes?

• raw vegan berry mango frozen fruit cake
• vanilla almond cookies with mango chia icing
• mango cardamom snack cake
• caramelized mango cheesecake ice cream bars