What is cempedak, and why does everyone ask for it?

If you didn’t grow up eating it, cempedak is easy to mix up with jackfruit, its close relative, and with durian, which it is often compared to. All three are large, spiky-skinned fruits that grow in Southeast Asia and smell a lot stronger than they look. But cempedak is its own thing, and it’s the reason our Cempedak Crumble Cake is the bake people come back for.

Cempedak vs. jackfruit vs. durian

Jackfruit is the mildest of the three: firm, fibrous and only lightly sweet, which is why it’s often used as a meat substitute in savoury cooking. Durian is at the other extreme: custardy, very rich, and banned on public transport for its smell. Cempedak sits in between. It is softer and more fragrant than jackfruit, without durian’s pungency. The flesh is a deep golden-orange, sticky, and tastes like a cross between banana and mango, with a faint caramel note.

Why it works so well in a cake

That caramel note is what makes cempedak good for baking. We fold it into a buttery crumble base. It needs very little added sugar, and the crumble topping adds texture. It’s a seasonal fruit, so the cake comes and goes with supply, which is part of why it sells out as often as it does.

Where to find it in Singapore

Cempedak shows up seasonally at wet markets and some supermarkets, usually already cut and packed since the whole fruit is large and messy to open. If you would rather skip the mess, our Cempedak Crumble Cake is baked fresh in Tampines whenever the fruit is in season, with no pork, lard, alcohol or gelatin, like everything else we make.