The season of Advent has begun and while it is a time for prayer and preparation of our souls for the upcoming Christmas season, most of us are busy chalking out menus of the festivities we are going to be indulging in. Fair enough! We are all foodies who love to eat good stuff, aren’t we? So keeping up with the momentum, I will share a few recipes for you to try this Christmas season. Tutti frutti is essentially made out of candied raw papaya and stained with different edible colours. Tutti frutti is similar to glace fruits that come from different fruits and citrus peels that are stewed in sugar syrup and dried. This is a technique of preserving fruits and are generally used in baking or other confectionary.
I have always loved tutti frutti and used to enjoy it in sweet buns that were famous in Mangalorean bakeries. We occasionally also bought the little loaf cakes that were sold by Britannia, however I disliked the taste as the cakes used to leave a synthetic after taste. I was longing to bake them at home but never did until a couple of weeks ago when I was sifting through the virtual pages of cookbook recipe pictures and found a good recipe. There was a time when I used to take pictures of almost every cookbook that I borrowed from the local library. Unfortunately I don’t have the name of the book at the moment. I will update it soon.
This cake can be made with glace fruit too if you don’t find tutti frutti. The same recipe can be adapted to include any kind of dry fruits or even chocolate chips. This has got to be the most versatile recipe that you can adapt this festive season. If you are not going to bake an elaborate fruit cake for Christmas you can consider making a simple tutti frutti cake because it will be liked by the kids for sure.
This cake has a beautiful crumb and is most like going to finish off in minutes! If you want it to stay moist for many days you can replace part of the flour with almond meal (almond powder). The taste will be great too! Hope you enjoy making this!
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A simple tutti frutti (or glace fruit) cake that can double up as a Christmas cake or be served for any party or even as a tea time snack!
- 175 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 175 grams caster sugar
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 175 grams all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons to roll the tutti frutti in
- 25 grams semolina
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 125 grams tutti frutti or glace fruit (candied mixed peel)
- 1/4 cup thick yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
- zest grated rind of 1 lime or lemon
- Preheat the oven at 175 degrees C. Grease a 7" round or 9"x5" loaf pan with butter. Then dust it generously with flour and tap out the excess. Keep aside. You may also grease and line the pan with baking parchment.
- Whisk the yogurt till smooth. Roll the tutti frutti very well in 2 tablespoons of flour. This is to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Sift the remaining flour with the baking powder. Keep aside
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar till the mixture looks pale.
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well. Add the yogurt, lemon zest and lemon juice and fold in. Now add the flour and semolina in parts and gently fold. Finally add the tutti frutti and mix everything together
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or till the skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Once done, remove and place on a wire rack to cool. After 15 minutes ease out the cake from the tin and let it cool completely on the wire rack before slicing. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea or coffee!
You can either use single or multi coloured tutti frutti or candied mixed peel. The difference between the two is that tutti frutti is primarily made out of candied raw papaya (or sometimes raw melon) and candied peel can contain the same plus the peel of citrus fruits such as lemon, orange & grapefruit
Dear Shireen
Tk u for sharing an easy to follow recipe. I have been waiting patiently for you to start posting your Xmas recipes. Luv all your recipes and clear explanation especially precise measurements in grams.
Thank u dear
Thanks so much Gracy! I will share more recipes soon, couldn’t do much for Christmas as I was travelling to India
Hi, you have not mentioned at what time semolina has to be added. Or can it be omitted also? Pls reply.
Hi,
I have updated the recipe. You need to add the semolina along with the flour! Yes you can omit it if you don’t have it
Hi Shireen,
Can’t wait to make this cake. I have a question,
You have mentioned that we can replace a part of the flour with almond powder, , how many cups would it be? Can you please give a proportion of how much of flour to almond powder must be used. Also can we grind almonds to powder or buy it from the store for the fine texture?
Appreciate your reply,
Thank you
Reena
Hi Reena,
You can use 150 grams all purpose flour and 25 grams almond flour (making it a total of 175 grams). You can make your own almond meal by blanching the almonds (if you are using almonds with skin) – Just place them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, cover and keep aside for 15 minutes, then easily peel off the skin. Drain the water and let the almonds dry completely before pulsing in a mixer grinder in 2 second intervals. Open the jar and use a spoon to mix. Don’t grind in one go as the almonds will turn paste like. You can also use almond flour from the store
Hi Shireen,
How many U.S cups is 175 gms flour, 175 gms of butter and 175gms of sugar, 125gms of tutti frutti and 25 gms of semolina.
Thanks again.
Very interested in making this cake!!
Hi Reena,
I always use a weighing scale for cakes. The next time I make this cake I Will surely measure the ingredients in cups and update this recipe
Hi nice looking cake.. congrats!
One doubt though… the semolina is not mentioned in the ingredients… Is it added to the flour?
Hi,
The semolina is mentioned (25 grams) below the all purpose flour