Tutti frutti cake is a popular variety of Indian cake made with flour, tutti frutti (candied papaya), sugar and flavorings. This cake can be made both with eggs and without eggs. I share an eggless tutti frutti cake recipe that has a soft, light and moist crumb. This Eggless Cake Recipe is also easy and even newbies in baking can make this cake easily.
About Tutti Frutti Cake
This is a delightful cake with tutti frutti being one of the star ingredient. Of course there is the cake but without tutti frutti it will be a simple vanilla cake. The tutti frutti brings in some chewy bites and sweet pops of flavor in the cake.
To make this tutti frutti cake, I have adapted my recipe of Vanilla Cake . I have been making this tutti frutti cake for many years now. In this recipe, I have used fresh homemade curd (yogurt) as an egg replacement.
I also add some acidity to the batter with apple cider vinegar (can swap with lemon juice or white vinegar) – which when combined with baking soda, helps the batter to aerate and makes for a soft fluffier cake.
Earlier when making the cake, I used to add ½ cup oil or melted butter in the recipe, but later I started reducing the amount of oil. I felt that with even with ¼ cup oil or melted butter the cake gets a lovely light crumb and is moist.
You can use both melted butter or oil in the recipe. I have made the cake with both oil and butter on various occasions. Both give good results in the cake. If using oil, then use a neutral flavored and neutral tasting oil like sunflower oil.
What is Tutti Frutti
Tutti frutti are basically candied fruits made with pineapple, cherries, currants, watermelon rind, apricots, various berries etc. In India what we call tutti frutti are candied colorful bits of papaya. They are made from green unripe papaya. Making homemade tutti frutti is an extensive and time consuming process.
While you can make them at home, but if you live in India you can also buy them easily from grocery stores and online. If you live in US, then you can find them in Indian grocery stores and online as well.
Tutti frutti is one ingredient that I use, which has artificial colors. I don’t have the time and energy to make these candied raw papaya pieces at home. So I buy from outside when I have to add them in recipes. A few recipes where you can add them are these:
How to make Tutti Frutti Cake
Sift Dry Ingredients
1: Take a sieve. Keep a mixing bowl below the sieve. In the sieve add 1.5 cups all purpose flour – about 187 to 190 grams all purpose flour.
2. Then add 1 pinch salt, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
If you do not have cinnamon powder, then you can skip it. Alternatively you can add ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients.
4. Now add ½ cup tutti frutti.
5. With a spoon or spatula, just mix the tutti frutti with the sifted flour so that they get coated with the flour. Keep aside.
6. Grease a loaf pan measuring 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches with butter and oil and set aside. You can even line the pan with butter paper or parchment paper. Also preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
A round cake pan having 7 to 8 inches diameter also works well.
Mix Sugar with Liquids
7. In a bowl take ¾ cup sugar (160 grams sugar).
8. Add ½ cup water.
9. Begin to mix the sugar with water with a whisk or spoon.
10. The entire sugar should dissolve before starting with the next step.
11. After all of the sugar has dissolved, add ¼ cup melted butter or oil. You can melt butter in a small pan or bowl and keep it ready.
Use unsalted butter. But if you have salted butter then skip adding the salt when sifting the flour.
12. With a whisk stir briskly for 2 to 3 minutes so that the melted butter mixes with water evenly.
13. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or scrape half of a vanilla bean and add the tiny seeds in the solution. Here I have used vanilla bean. Mix again well. Keep this sugar solution aside.
Make Curd (Yogurt) Mixture
14. In another bowl take 3 tablespoons fresh curd or yogurt. Ensure that the curd is not sour.
15. Add 1 tablespoon water.
16. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar. You can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. I have used apple cider vinegar. You can also use 1 tablespoon lemon juice instead of vinegar.
17. Stir and mix very well with a spoon or small wired whisk.
18. Now add ½ teaspoon baking soda.
19. Stir and mix again very well.
20. You will see the solution frothing and bubbling.
Make Tutti Frutti Cake Batter
21. Quickly add the prepared sugar solution to the dry sifted flour mixture.
22. Immediately, add the bubbling curd solution also to the flour mixture in the bowl.
23. Be quick and begin to mix gently to a smooth batter with a wired whisk. Mix with light pressure from your hands on the whisk.
24. Do not overdo the mixing. You can even fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Tiny lumps are fine in the batter.
25. Pour the batter in the greased or lined cake pan.
26. Gently tap the cake pan on the kitchen table top once or twice.
Bake Tutti Frutti Cake
27. Place the cake pan in the oven.
28. Bake the cake at 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit in a preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or more or less if required.
Baking time will vary depending on the temperature conditions in the oven and the size of the oven. Remember not to open the oven door until the cake is 3/4 baked. Opening the door many times will cause your cake to sink in the center.
29. Check with a bamboo skewer or fork and it should come out clean. If the cake is baked well then the bamboo skewer will have a few crumbs on it and no sticky cake batter.
If the cake is under baked then keep back in the oven and bake for some more minutes.
30. Place the pan on a rack to cool down.
31. When the cake has completely cooled at room temperature, then using a butter knife loosen the edges of the cake. Invert the pan on a chopping board. Gently tap the bottom of the cake pan and remove the tutti frutti cake.
32. Slice the cake.
32. Serve tutti frutti cake slices as it is or with some milk or tea or coffee. Remaining cake slices or loaf can be refrigerated in an airtight container and lightly warmed before serving.
If you are looking for more Eggless cakes then do check:
Cake Recipes
Cake Recipes
Cake Recipes
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Tutti Frutti Cake
Ingredients
For dry mixture
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour – about 187 to 190 grams
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder (ground cinnamon) – optional
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup tutti frutti – approximate 80 grams
For sugar solution
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup raw sugar or regular sugar – 160 grams, or add as required * check point 3 in notes
- ¼ cup melted butter or neutral flavored oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla powder or half of a vanilla bean, scraped
For curd mixture
- 3 tablespoons Curd (yogurt), dairy or vegan
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
Sifting dry ingredients
- Take a sieve. Keep a mixing bowl below the sieve. In the sieve add the all-purpose flour, salt, cinnamon powder and baking powder.
- Sift all the dry ingredients.
- Now add the tutti frutti.
- Simply mix the tutti frutti with the flour so that they get coated with the flour.
- Grease a loaf pan with butter and oil and keep aside. You can even line the pan with butter paper or parchment paper. Also preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
Making sugar solution
- In a bowl take sugar and water.
- Mix the sugar with water till all the sugar granules are dissolved.
- After all of the sugar has dissolved, add melted butter or oil. You can melt butter in a small pan and keep it ready. With a whisk mix briskly for 2 to 3 minutes till the oil has mixed evenly with the water.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or scrape half of a vanilla bean and add the tiny seeds in the solution. Mix again well. Keep this sugar solution aside.
Making curd mixture
- In another bowl take fresh curd or yogurt, water and vinegar.
- You can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. I have used apple cider vinegar. You can also use lemon juice instead of vinegar. Mix very well.
- Now add baking soda. Stir to combine so that the baking soda is mixed evenly.
- You will see the mixture frothing and bubbling.
Making tutti frutti cake batter
- Quickly add the sugar solution to the sifted dry ingredients.
- Then immediately add the bubbling curd solution.
- Mix gently to a smooth batter with light pressure from the hands on the whisk. Do not overdo the mixing. You can even fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Tiny lumps are fine in the batter.
- Pour the tutti frutti cake batter in the greased or lined cake pan.
- Gently tap the cake pan on the kitchen table top once or twice.
Baking tutti frutti cake
- Place the cake pan in the preheated oven.
- Bake the cake at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or more or less as required. Baking time will vary depending on the temperature conditions in the oven and the size of the oven.
- Check with a skewer or fork and it should come out clean.
- Place the pan on a wired rack to cool.
- When the tutti frutti cake has completely cooled at room temperature, then using a butter knife loosen the edges of the cake. Invert the pan on a chopping board. Gently tap the bottom of the cake pan and remove the cake.
- Slice the cake.
- Serve the eggless tutti frutti cake as is or with some milk or tea or coffee. Remaining cake can be refrigerated and lightly warmed before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Tutti Frutti Cake post from the archives (December 2013) has been republished and updated on 23 September 2021.
Hi, yes I had set the temp @ 170degress as there is no 180 degree option in my oven n after that 200 deg option is there! I baked for 25 min as from top its becoming brown n I also inserted toothpick n checked for the doneness n it’s done too, so I switched off n took it out but it tasted a little bitter n minty that’s why again I baked for five more minutes but it came out hard the taste reminded the same!
okay. the hardness could be due to it being overdone or the cake batter mixed too much. bitterness could be due to curd. if the curd is on the verge of getting spoiled or spoiled, it will taste bitter. in fact since the cake was done, there was no need to bake for it again. as a rule for any baking recipe, always use fresh ingredients. sometimes even an ingredient like baking soda can be culprit if its not fresh or active.
Hi, the curd I used is quite good n home made too n as u said the baking soda might had spoiled the taste of the cake, it’s bought a few months ago!
fine. could be the baking soda then. i have had a few baking disasters with both baking soda and baking powder at times.
Hi dear, u baked this cake in an aluminium tin? Is it OK to bake in microwave oven in aluminium tin for the model IFB 30src1? As I hadn’t used aluminium tin till now I am asking n once I tried in aluminium cup to bake a cup cake but it has given sparks n I stopped it immediately n changed to silicon cups nbaked, so please suggest, thanks 🙂
anuradha, yes i baked in an aluminium baking pan. in convection mode you can use aluminium baking pans. but please don’t use in microwave mode as arcing occurs in the metal. arcing means you can see sparks. if even in the convection mode you see the sparks then this means the oven is leaking the microwave radiations while using the convection mode. so get it checked.
But I have convection plus microwave option in one button n not separately!
And today the tutti fruity cake came in a minty flavour, why I didn’t understand, earlier I tried this cake n it came out very gud n this time I think I baked a little less I think but again after removing I baked for five more minutes but in vain! What might went wrong was unable to understand!
i do not know about the minty flavor. what exactly happened with the texture. let me know.
do you set the temperature in degrees like 180 degrees celsius etc. i also have an ifb but a different model. i set the temperature in degrees and then start the oven.
nice
Awesome recipe. Made it like a cake and turned out great last year. I added Pineapple essence instead of vanilla. It was out of this world! You should try it too!
I’m going to make it again this time. Thank you so much for this recipe!
welcome panna and thankyou so much 🙂
mam,one more question…i have square cake tin..so can i bake this cake in that ?and will the ingredients quantity be the same ?
yes you can bake in a square tin, provided its a medium sized one. use the same ingredients. if you make less or more, things can go wrong with the cake.
really looking yummmm…..wanna try this out so soon…but have one query…is the cake has to be baked on middle rack and what should be the standard preheating time for normally all types of cakes ?
yes the cake is baked on middle rack. the standard preheating time for most cake recipes is usually from 180 degrees celsius to 200 degrees celsius.
Hi Dassana,
Thanks again for a great recipe. My question is can I make cupcakes out of this? If so, how long would I need to bake it for?
Thanks.
Welcome SM. yes you can make cup cakes. you will have to bake it for a short period of time (less than the time it takes for cake). timing varies from oven to oven. so you have to keep a check.
Hi dassana,
Can I use wheat flour instead of maida in this recipe?
mrignayani, you will have to try. it will have a different texture and won’t be so soft.
hello,I really like your recipes and tried few of them,all came out really tasty :),plz tell can I use non -fruit vinegar in place of apple vinegar,and is eno fruit salt is good substitute for baking soda.
thanks jayanti. yes you can use white vinegar or even use lemon juice. i have never tried eno fruit salt but it is more strong than baking soda. so if you plan to add eno fruit salt then add half the amount of baking soda.
Thank you so much for the prompt reply Dassana. One more doubt. Is it possible to add dry fruits like cashews and raisins?
welcome karthika. yes you can but don’t add too much.
Hi Dassana,
Can i use vinegar in all type of cakes?
sreeja, it depends upon recipe to recipe. so you can not.
Dear Dassana,
This particular cake looks really tempting and I want to try baking this one. I have a doub. Should the yogurt be in room temperature? I trust your site for eggless cake recipes. And I am not an expert when it comes to baking. But your detailing just helps. You are doing an excellent job. Thanks a ton
Regards
Karthika
welcome karthika. yes the yogurt should be at room temperature.
Aapki recipe bahot acchi hai easy to understand.I want some more recipe for my family.
I want to know how microwave use easy way I only use it for heat something
thanks. you can check the recipes using the various categories headings or search for a particular recipe in the google search bar. i don’t use microwave much for cooking. like you i also use it to reheat.
Hi dassana,
Recently only i started cooking, being a novice had no knowledge about cooking. But now i can say that i can cook and it happened because of you and the way you explain the minute to minute details about the recipes. Thank you once again.
Cooking main course/ starters is not a task now, but preparing cake took a toll on me. Being this my first time baking a cake was a horrible one, though i followed your recipe step by step only.
I have microwave oven, so i have no clue whether can i bake cake in that oven. However i did, but it was a disaster. I had baked the cake for 30 mins, and burnt the whole cake from inside.
Please let me know whether can i bake a cake in microwave oven. If no, then please add few cake recipies for such ovens.
I am disheartened with the disaster happened.
Please help !!!
hi nimisha, thanks for the feedback. firstly don’t get disheartened. mishaps happen in baking. it happens with me too on occasions. we all learn through our trials not only in baking but in life as well. while bakiing any cake, never follow the time period that is mentioned in the recipe. the reason for this is that each oven is different and so is the heating temperature in the oven. so if a recipe calls for 30 minutes, then its very much possible that there will be a variation in the time period from 20 to 40 minutes in various ovens.
did you bake the cake in microwave mode or convection mode of your microwave oven? if you used microwave mode then your cake will get burnt in 30 minutes. 5 minutes are enough for the cake to be done in the microwave mode. if you used convection mode, then the cake should not get burnt but will be too browned. you can make cakes in the microwave oven, but your oven should have the convection mode or feature. i have baked cakes as well as breads in the convection mode of the microwave oven i have.
Thank you Dassana.
Mine is Grill Microwave Oven, it has options like combination cooking and other cook functions inbuilt in it.
The first attempt, i directly baked without using cook option and set the timer for 30min. Thus, burnt the cake.
And the second attempt, i opted for cook function option for baking cake, automatically timer set for 5 mins. The cake was baked however it was crumbly and little bit under cooked on the bottom. Tried to fix the problem by setting a combination which made the bottom of the cake bit hard.
Do let me know if you can help!
Thanks for lending an ear ! Hope can fix this error and bake once again without burning :p
Thank you once again for sharing the recipes.
hi nimisha, baking cakes do not work very well in grill option as well as combination option. combination option means both grill function and microwave functions are used. now what happens here is that the food is cooked by the microwave electrons as well due to the heat from the grill. so if a cake is baked using combination function, you won’t get desired results in the cake. the microwave energy will harden the cake and the the heat from the grill will cook the cake from the top and dry it out. basically its uneven cooking happening in the cake. so i would not suggest you to make a cake in the combination mode. if you plan to bake cakes often, then its good to invest in an OTG which is not expensive.
but you can make cakes in the cook or microwave mode. you will have to get the recipes where the cake is cooked using the microwave mode. these cakes generally have the batter consistency on the thinner side and take about 5 minutes to cook.
welcome 🙂
Hi,
Which oven do you use? and how long should I pre-heat the oven for?
vinaya, i use philips oven. pre-heat for 15 minutes.