Tutti Frutti Cake

Tutti frutti cake recipe – Make moist, fluffy and delicious bakery style tutti frutti cake at home with my easy and simple recipe. Tutti frutti cake is one of the most popular type of cakes available in Indian bakeries. Made with flour, milk, butter and of course tutti fruttis, this is one of the easiest even a beginner or a kid can bake. Filled with amazing rich buttery flavor and colorful tutti fruttis, this eggless tutti frutti cake is the best with a moist & light crumb.

If you are not from India, I am sure you are wondering what it is.

About Tutti Frutti Cake

Tutti frutti cake is a type of Indian fruit cake made with tutti fruttis (candied fruits), all-purpose flour, sugar, butter and vanilla essence. Much like any other bakery style sponge cakes a tutti frutti cake is light, moist, airy and is also available with an egg-free option.

So it is basically a sponge cake to which candied fruits are added. It is usually baked in a loaf tin and makes for a perfect snack cake that can be enjoyed anytime of the day.

Now if you are wondering what are tutti fruttis?

Tutti frutti is a candied confectionery or sugar confectionary made with different fruits like papaya, cherries, watermelon, oranges, raisins, berries, apricots etc. Tutti frutti means different in every country.

In a lot of countries they are just candied colorful fruits where no coloring or flavoring is added to them. While in a lot of countries, they are fermented in alcohol, spirits or yeast.

In India tutti fruttis are mostly made with raw papaya. But these days you also find the supermarkets having those made with watermelon rind or a with a mix of real fruits.

To make the tutti fruttis, tiny bits of raw papaya are cooked in sugar syrup and then colored. These are dehydrated and then marketed. These are added to various desserts and bakes like cookies, cakes, ice creams, breads and even in falooda.

My recipe

You can literally transform any vanilla sponge cake to a tutti frutti cake by adding the candied fruits to the batter. My recipe shared here is eggless but if you eat eggs you may use this butter cake recipe.

This eggless tutti frutti cake recipe uses milk and an acidic ingredient – lemon juice or vinegar which reacts with the soda and lends a very light & airy texture.

The tutti fruitti mix I have used also has the citrus peels so I have not added any extra flavourings. If yours does not have the citrus peels, add 1 tsp of lemon zest or orange zest.

You can also add some fruit essence or spice powders like cardamom, nutmeg or cinnamon to get your favourite flavours.

Indian Tutti fruttis are loaded with artificial colors and preservatives. Sometimes they also smell of the preservatives. So you may look for organic brands or simply use the real candied fruits.

Using artificially coloured tutti fruttis often is not my thing so I usually make this cake with the same amount of nuts, raisins & candied citrus peels.

For a healthier version you can check this Eggless Fruit cake made with wheat flour, nuts and mixed dried fruits.

I have baked this cake in Oven. If you do not oven a oven, then you can also bake it in a cooker following this Cooker cake recipe post.

How to make tutti frutti cake (stepwise photos)

1. Grease a loaf pan or cake pan. I have used a 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan. You can also use a 7 or 8 inch cake pan. Line a parchment paper. If not using parchment paper then dust some flour all over the pan and shake off the excess by inverting it. Preheat the oven to 170 C or 340 F for at least 15 mins. If using a OTG, heat the oven with top and bottom, both heating elements ON. If using a microwave convection oven, turn on the convection option and heat at the same temperature.

2. Measure ½ cup tutti fruttis to a bowl. Sprinkle 1 tbsp flour and coat them well.

3. Mine also had the citrus peels so I did not add lemon or orange zest. If yours does not have then add in the 1 teaspoon lemon zest or orange zest to the fruit mix. Keep mixing well until all the tutti frutti are coated well with the flour.

4. Add 1 ¼ tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 270 ml milk (1 cup + 2 tbsp). I used room temperature milk. Ensure the milk is not very cold.

5. Mix well. You will see the milk begins to curdle. Set this aside.

6. Place a sieve over a large mixing bowl. Measure 1 ½ cups flour (190 grams) and add it to the sieve. If using a measuring cup, fluff up the flour in the jar with a fork, then spoon it to the measuring cup. Level the top with a straight edged knife or a spoon.

7. Measure 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder. Add it to the sieve.

8. Add ½ teaspoon baking soda.

9. Next add 1 pinch of salt.

10. Sieve all of them. Sieve the flour twice. This makes the cake light.

Making batter

11. Make a well in the center. Set this aside.

12. To the milk bowl, add ¾ cup sugar (plus 2 tablespoons – optional) and ¾ to 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. The organic sugar I use is low in sweetness so I use the extra 2 tbsps sugar. If using regular sugar you may cut down that.

13. Pour ½ cup melted butter or oil. I prefer butter for a rich flavor. But you may also use neutral oil like coconut.

14. Stir well until sugar has dissolved completely.

15. Pour this to the flour.

16. Mix gently with a spatula or whisk just until you see no streaks of flour. Do not over mix.

17. The batter is of ribbon consistency.

18. Add the tutti frutti.

19. Mix gently only a couple of times. Do not over mix else your tutti fruttis will sink to the bottom.

20. Pour the batter to the greased tray. Sprinkle some tutti fruttis on top if you prefer. Brush some milk on top. Knock the pan to the kitchen counter a few times.

Baking

21. Place the cake pan in the middle rack. Bake at 170 C or 340 F.
Bake Time
40 to 45 mins if using a 8 by 4 to 9 by 5 inch pan.
30 to 32 mins if using a 7 inch or 8 inch cake pan. Please adjust the baking time to suit your oven and pan size.
When the cake is done, a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan over a wired rack for 10 to 15 mins so it won’t sweat at the bottom.

22. Then invert it on a wire rack.

23. Lastly cool completely then remove the parchment paper.

24. Slice eggless tutti frutti cake with a segregated knife.

For more Cake Recipes, you can check
Eggless Vanilla cake
Black forest cake
Eggless Sponge cake
Carrot cake
Eggless Chocolate cake
Eggless Ragi cake

Related Recipes

Recipe card

This post is from the Archives. First published in December 2017. Updated and republished in November 2021.