Ambrosia Cake Recipe (2024)

I wish someone else would make this cake and invite me over to share it.

Rather than cutting the tops off the layers, better to humidify the oven which will make the cakes come out absolutely flat. An easy way to do this is to wrap a wet terry hand towel around each pan, using a safety pin to hold in place. Then bake. Foolproof! It is also much easier to ice a top that has been baked rather than a top that has been cut.

I think canned mandarin segments would work beautifully, drained and patted dry very lightly with a clean cloth.

A dream to make. Aside from the onerous supreming of the tangerines, (need to get bigger tangerines, I think) it all came out exactly as the recipe said it would. The batter was delicious, the cakes cut beautifully, the curd was easy to make and tasty. It looks refreshing and beautiful. Looking forward to having it cut into! Thanks, Melissa.

This has to be my all-time favorite comment. ;-)

I always put both pineapple and mandarin orange in my ambrosia. I wonder if pineapple would be yummy in between one of those layers.

My error. When I saw that the first instruction was Bake the cake, I freaked. I thought I might want to try this, but haven't baked many cakes.

Steps 2-5 tell you how to bake it. Think of step 1 as a subject heading, and turning on the oven/preparing the pans as a declaration of intent.
Good luck! You can do it.

When someone notes a problem with a recipe that is contrary to most outcomes I wonder if it's differences in regional ingredients. Flour is not just flour. Southern brands usually have a lower gluten percentage, are often bleached creating an acidic nature in the dough. Northern/Midwest flour tends to have higher gluten, unbleached. This is also true of many other ingredients. Grocery store olive oil, canned tomatoes etc. just clarify. If someone reports it can be gluten free: please note.

I wonder if canned mandarin orange segments (drained) can be used for the decorating. I always have difficulty getting clean segments of fresh citrus.

Ambrosia was a holiday regular in my youth. Mother used orange supremes, pineapple (canned, fresh not yet having come to mid-America), banana, coconut, and maraschinos. Good canned or frozen cherries would be tastier, just not as festive. I feel the need to make it today. This cake, too.

Maria --
I am sure you could still create a lovely cake by substituting dairy milk/butter for the coconut elements. As for the shreds that decorate the cake, finely chopped pecans or walnuts might be wonderful.

I made this yesterday, the flavor is delicious, however, it cake itself is dense and dry as a bone. Any suggestions? I should add, the frosting is also delicious!
Is it the coconut oil that made it dry and heavy? Too many eggs? I don't know how to adjust it other than taking it out from the oven earlier, that may help with the dryness but not the density. Thanks for any help, it is truly worth trying again.

Made this cake - very yummy. 13 yr old made it without frosting instead just topped all four layers with whip cream and fruits. It was a "naked" cake that showed off the layers and curd. Light and fresh result!

I loved the idea of this cake and love Melissa Clark's work but this cake did not thrill me although we ate every bit of it! I will definitely try it again using other recipes for the components (sponge, curd, icing). The "marshmallow" icing in particular was bland and I personally wanted more orange flavor from the citrus curd (and more volume). The ambrosia salad in my childhood memory includes maraschino cherries so I added them between layers on half the cake (that half was preferred).

My advice is to certainly split up the steps between two days, if possible, and also, have either two mixer bowls, or a stand mixer *and* a hand mixer on hand. I was in a bit of a frenzy beating the batter by hand when I realized I needed a very clean bowl to whip to whites.

This was a fussy cake. Segmenting the clementine was frustrating; I should have used canned mandarin slices, as others recommended. The icing was delicious but didn't firm up enough, so it ended up sliding off the cake (and the plate) by the time I was ready to serve. That said, the notes of coconut, lemon and orange were distinct, and the cake stayed fresh for 3 days afterwards. Overall: not worth the hassle.

Melissa, this cake was fantastic! I had zero issues following the recipe (the video helped). Yes, it took me four hours, but it was fun. I even did the supremes of cutie mandarin oranges. It was a perfect nostalgic recipe for my mom’s birthday. She used to get me ambrosia salad at the deli counter as a child. Citrusy, moist cake, creamy sugary frosting. Yum. My stepdad said this was the best cake he had ever eaten, ever.

My cake layers were also dense and not fluffy as expected. The egg whites were whipped as per the recipe. I did reduce the sugar to 1 cup, I wonder if that contributed?

This cake was wonderful. I used normal oranges cut into small pieces rather than clementine segments for layering which worked perfectly. The frosting was AMAZING, even though we had no cream of tartar. The curd was great as well. Overall, a very tasty and impressive cake.

I am here to testify. This is a fantastic cake. We did not find it too sweet, although it is a sweet cake (the frosting is very sweet). Save yourself grief and make it in two days as suggested. The curd is particularly good. I only used tangerines but think another fruit along with them would add even more interest to the flavors. I wonder how bananas would work in this? I plan on making this one again. Perhaps for Easter.

I should add that I also got an inch flat disc for one of the cakes. I couldn't figure out what happened. I suspect that I didn't whip the whites sufficiently as my baking powder was new. I might use 8inch pans next time.

Made this yesterday. Yes, quite a bit of work (sectioning 12 mandarin oranges can't be anyone's idea of fun), but seriously, one of the most delicious cakes I've ever baked. Instead of strawberries on top, I substituted pineapple, which is a more traditional ambrosia salad ingredient. Also, the marshmallow frosting was a dream, and the video gave me the confidence to make it. Don't know that I'll do this again any time soon -- unless I do it over several days -- but totally worth it.

I’m not sure what I did wrong, but this cake was pretty average for me. The cake, itself, was bland, dense, and dry. The flavor that was there was overwhelmingly citrusy, and just one note at that. I really wanted to like it, but after 2 slices I’m ready to throw it out. Not sure if these issues were due to the fact that I over-whipped the egg whites or that I used unbleached white flour.

Made this cake yesterday. Gluten free with ATK flour mix. Worked well. Dough was supple, easy to work with but got an inch flat disk for 9in cake pan so delicate to cut horizontally. Need more cake batter next time. I reduced the cake sugar by 1/4 cup. And used tangerine quarter rind peeled off but skin on. Easier, faster and fine. For the filling I reduce sugar to 5TBSP and it was still too sweet. I used unsweetened coconut. I omitted the marshmallow frosting. Got complimented....

This cake was delicious - I expected it to be cloyingly sweet, but it tasted fresh and tart with just the right amount of sugar. I made a couple of adjustments. I used 8” pans instead of 9”, baking them at 325F instead of 350F and for 45 minutes instead of 30. The cake came out set, but still moist and light. I made the curd and the cakes a day ahead. I used raspberries instead of strawberries one layer, and skipped the clementines and fruit on top. I will definitely make this again.

I made the cake layers and curd the day before. I don’t know if I did something wrong, but I had trouble with the cake layers, which came out very flat and dense. I ended up baking new cake the next morning, from a similar ambrosia layer cake in epicurious and they came out fine. Used the curd and icing from this recipe, and the cake was delicious! I topped with clementine supremes and maraschino cherries.

I made this for my husbands birthday and it was a hit. The best part was the curd, so tart and delicious! Definitely time consuming but the end result was worth it.

I made this as a birthday cake for a friend who loves coconut. It was a big hit! It's a celebration cake. But, 3 hours? Since I don't make things like this often, it took more like all day. Next time, I will follow Melissa's suggestions for making the curd and the cake ahead of time. I used almost an entire bag of those little clementines and they are so tiny that the membranes are very soft - about halfway through supreming them, I realized they didn't really need it.