If you are of Indian origin, I think you will feel the same way I feel about tutti frutti (it's candied peel for Americans). To me it brings back a lot of wonderful (sweet) memories of enjoying the summer vacation and special occasions with tutti frutti cake and ice cream.
One of my most favorite childhood eats was the milk cakes studded with these itsy bity pieces of tutti frutti. Long train journeys and short road trips where never complete without these cakes in our family. It was a tradition to buy a packet or two of these cakes while packing for the trip.
These cakes came in a lot of flavors, were soft, buttery and had a melt-in-your mouth texture. It tastes and feels more or less like a pound cake. Never did I think that I would be baking one of these tutti frutti cake myself.
I have been looking for these cakes in the Indian stores here for sometime now but couldn't find it. So I thought why not give it a try and bake an eggless tutti frutti cake at home. I searched for tutti frutti cake recipes in Google and it showed a lot of recipes from my fellow Indian bloggers.
After looking at a couple of recipes I decided to use this recipe as a base and mix in the tutti frutti and the result was stunning.
I already have an eggless pound cake recipe here, in which I have used silken tofu to replace the eggs and felt that the cake was quite dense.
I would have tried using part silken tofu and part yogurt like in this strawberry cream cake recipe which turned out perfect, but I didn't have silken tofu at home.
So I decided to use a combination of yogurt and homemade applesauce recipe. The tutti frutti cake did turn out well but I'm thinking that the silken tofu and yogurt combination will be more perfect. Can't wait to try that tutti frutti cake recipe one of these days.
If you tried this Tutti Frutti Cake recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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Recipe
Tutti Frutti Cake
Ingredients
- 1 And ½ Cups Cake Flour
- 1 And ¼ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ¾ Cup Sugar
- 13 Tablespoons Butter Softened (See Note 1)
- ¼ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- ½ Cup Plain Yogurt
- 3 Tablespoons Milk
- 1 And ½ Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ½ Cup Tutti Frutti (Candied Peel)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Lightly butter a loaf pan (see My Note 2) and line it with parchment paper.
- Place the tutti frutti in a small bowl and mix in a tablespoon of flour (from the flour measured for the cake), separating the pieces sticking together. This prevents the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Whisk in the sugar.
- To this flour mixture add the butter and all the wet ingredients.
- Start blending the ingredients with an electric mixer at low speed and gradually increase the speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue beating the mixture for about 5-6 minutes. Now you can see that the mixture would have doubled because of the creaming of butter and sugar. Now mix in the tutti frutti pieces and combine it until its evenly distributed in the batter.
- Transfer the tutti fruiti cake batter to the prepared pan and smooth the batter out. Bake for about 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Mine was done in about 58 minutes. The cake also started browning on the sides after about 30 minutes. So I covered the pan with an aluminum foil around the 33rd minute and completed the baking.
- Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Cool it for about 15 minutes and remove the cake from the pan and place it on the rack to cool completely. Leave it overnight before you can slice it. The more time you give it the easier it is to slice. I got very neat slices the following afternoon.
My Notes
- The original recipe mentioned ½ cup plus ⅓ cup of butter which is 13 tablespoons. The butter I get here does not have the tablespoon marking. So I used little more than ¾th cup (12 tablespoons) of butter.
- A 9x5 inch was used for this measurement in the original recipe and I felt that an 8x4 inch should be fine. So I used it and I didn't get the shape I expected. I was expecting a square cake slice but what I got was a perfect rectangle.
- I have replaced 3 eggs in the original recipe with ¼ cup of applesauce and ½ cup yogurt.
Taste & Texture
- I knew that this tutti frutti cake was a winner as soon as it came out of the oven. It had the perfect color, looked absolutely perfect, fantastic aroma and had a crumb-y outer layer. I coudln't wait to slice it and taste the cake. So I was hasty as always and started slicing the cake within an hour or so and what do you think would have happened? Of course I did not get neat slices, it was all crumbly. But guess what, the taste was lip-smacking delicious. It was totally worth slicing the cake. I couldn't resist and cut a few more slices for all of us to taste and it got thumbs-up from everybody. My mother-in-law felt that maybe I could have reduced the sugar a little bit. I also thought the same but after tasting it once again the next day, I concluded that it was just fine. If you are going to serve it with ice-cream or thinking of using it as a base for some other dessert then you should be cutting back on the sugar. Otherwise it should be fine as such.
- I saved the remaining half of the cake for taking pictures. So when I cut the cake the following day evening, I got perfect slices. It was so easy to cut. So bake the cake and forget it until the next day. This cake looked and tasted as good as the milk cakes I have tasted in India.
Puja says
Hello Madhuram,
I just tried this recipe yesterday. Cake came out very soft and tasted awesome.
I followed the recipe to the T but the cake turned brown inside, it wasnt beautiful yellow color as i expected.
Could you please let me know what could have gone wrong?
Is it necessary to add baking soda along with baking powder?
Recipe is definitely a keeper.
Madhuram says
Puja, I really don't see any reason why the cake would turn brown on the inside. Outside I can understand, baking it for some extra time or higher temperature could be the possible reason. But in that case too, the cake would have become dry, I don't think you had that problem because you have mentioned that the cake was soft. But brown on the inside?!
Jahnavi says
Yes Madhuram,I may have used old Baking Powder.It is not expired but more than year old. I also think that it might not cool / store properly.in case of muffins, How do I store muffins ? without muffin liners ? Thanks so much.
Jahnavi says
Hello Madhuram,
I am fan of your eggless and easy cooking. I tried many of your recipes and it came out really well. but since last couple of times I am getting gooey kind of muffin and bread.. i don't know where it went wrong. So i need your help to figure it out. I had make hundreds of time Almond Butter Bread, but last week that one also came out gooey and sticky after one day of storing.Please Help Me.. Yeaterday i went to Walmart and Finally i got tutti fruiti, they stock up for christmas.. I really want to back this bread but now afraid of result..!
Thanks
Madhuram says
Are you sure you are not over mixing the batter or using very old baking powder/soda? Can you remember of anything that you are doing different than before?
Suma says
Hi Madhu
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe... I just tried it today morning as I am visiting a friend who has kids... What can I say... unbelievable.... by far the best eggless cake I have tried.... I added a little lemon zest to the batter and my home now smells wonderful 🙂 and the taste is awesome... I baked 2 cakes one for home and one for the friend and its hot out of the oven and I am eating away... I cant even wait for it to cool 🙂 Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe... Looking fwd to trying your other recipes....
Thanks Thanks Thanks a bunch
Regards
Suma
Madhuram says
You're welcome Suma. Please do rate the recipe for the benefit of others who want to try this recipe.
purnima says
hi,
I liked the egg less recipe u suggested, I love to bake and, most of the time I use eggs, the cakes come out fantastic. But the times when I try to make egg less version I lack in skills it seems.
Recently I made an egg less cake, and it lacked the texture of a regular cake, there wasn't any sponginess to it.. and moreover it did not taste like a cake. I would like to know, what could be the leavening agent, that can be used instead of eggs, that gives a good rise to the cake, making it soft and spongy.
Also in the above recipe u have mentioned using cake flour, where i live we don't get cake flour ( I have looked for it. What would you recommend instead?
Thanks again, and your cake looks just yummy...
Sree says
Hi Madhuram,
I tried this cake just today and I beat the cake mixture for 4 min gradually increasing the speed on the hand mixer, I used al purpose flour instead of the cake flour you mentioned.
I got a cake that was sunken in the middle, tasted awesome though!
Also my tutti fruti ( candied peel) lost color after baking
Could you please help?
Thanks,
Sree
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
Hi Madhu
I made this cake yesterday and it tasted really good.
But 2 questions i have
1) My cake sunk in the center portion throughout the length of the cake. (my bake time was 60 mins)
2) The cake was very chewy (dont know wats the correct word)...i mean it was extremely moist and had some chew to it...not like the crumbly dry effect the photo on your website has.
Can suggest something to help on above 2 issues ?
Thanks for all the lovely recipes you share with us.
- Rupa
Madhuram says
I'm guessing that you would have underbaked the cake Rupa. Also over or under beating the butter and sugar would make the cake to sink in the middle. You have to leave the cake undisturbed for minimum of 24 hours. I too got very moist/mushy slices when I cut it immediately. The pictures I have here were taken after giving enough rest time (about a whole day).
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
I'll try again keeping your above suggestions in mind.
Thank you for taking time to reply to our queries.
Krsna says
Hi Madhuram,
i tried this with the following substitutes and i was really concerned but the cake turned out great. thank you so much for another lovely recipe
1. instead of white flour i used wheat flour like chaptai flour
2. instead of butter i used oil.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Krsna. It's great to know that wheat flour and oil works just fine. Could you please rate the recipe.
vani sudarshan says
Hi Madhuram, thank you for the wonderful recipe . I baked this cake yesturday and it came out perfectly, very moist and fuffy. Thank you for the eggless Tutti fruitti cake. Thanks a lot. Everyone in my family and friends around liked it a lot. Instead of yogurt, I did go and use the whole cup of applesause. It came out really well. Thanks a lot.
Madhuram says
Oh! That was very quick Vani. I'm so happy that you got it right and you liked it. Could you rate the recipe?
sahiti says
Hi Mathuram,Thanks for the quick reply.When I bake , even though the cake or the bread is cooked completely,the top doesn't brown and remains some what creamish in colour.As I don't use eggs I combine milk,oil and sugar and brush the top with the mix to replace egg wash, but not getting the desired effect.can you please help?
Rupa Lakshminarayan says
cake looks yummy
what a coincidence that i was searching for Tutti Frutti cake recipe yesterday and surprised to see your email today !!
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
wow, that looks and sounds soooooo good and I love the fact that there are no eggs in it. I have bookmarked it 🙂
notyet100 says
my fav,.thanks for the recipe,..;-)
sheila says
Hi Madhuram,
Easy receipe for a tuti fruti cake.can't wait to try this soon.By cake flour do you mean all purpose flour ?
Madhuram says
Sheila, cake flour is different from all purpose flour. The former has lesser protein content than All purpose flour, making it very delicate and is suitable for white cakes and other tender baked goods. You can get it in stores as cake/pastry flour. You can also make it at home. 1 cup cake flour = 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch. This is the general susbstitution, but I haven't used it so far.
sahiti says
".....The cake also started browning on the sides after about 30 minutes. So I covered the pan with an aluminum foil around the 33rd minute and completed the baking."
As far as baking is concerned, I am a beginner and learning the tricks of the trade from experts like you.Can you please explain what purpose does it serve.
Madhuram says
Hi Sahiti, thanks for visiting. As far as some baked goods are concerned (especially in the case of breads, pies, where prolonged baking is required), while baking, the outer layer gets cooked pretty sooner than the inner part. The outer layer will start browning and may also burn before the bread is baked completely. So to stop this browning we cover the cake with aluminum foil.
Madhura says
The cake looks really tender. Even I have a basic eggless plain cake recipe which i've used to make different flavoured cake and it has only 1/2 cup butter for 1 1/2 cups flour.
Sometimes i use even less butter to make it into choco chip muffins
Divya Vikram says
Tutti fruiti brings back some loving memories. Cake looks perfect Madhu.
Divya says
Hi Madhu,
I can't wait to try this.
But where do you find this candied peel.
I live in SF bay area and would like to know where to find it and what to ask for.
If you know of specific shop(names), it would be very very useful.
Could you please let me know?
Madhuram says
Hi Divya, you can find it in the regular grocery stores itself in the baking aisle. It will be in small plastic tubs. Or else google for "cake supplies in SF bay area" and you should be able to find specialty stores where all these stuff are available in bulk. I got a result for Spun Sugar in Berkley and a store called Rainbow. I don't have a clue about SF area, so I'm not able to provide you with much details.
Priya says
Super gorgeous and marvellous looking cake..
Mathangi says
Great!Waiting to try this!Thanks for this and many more wonderful recipes!!!Keep going!
Madhuram says
You're welcome Mathangi.