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 its more famous relatives. It’s in the same family as jackfruit and durian — 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 sits at the other extreme — custardy, intensely rich, and famous for a smell polarising enough to get it banned on public transport. Cempedak lands in between: softer and more fragrant than jackfruit, but without durian’s pungency. The flesh is a deep golden-orange, sticky, and tastes like a cross between banana, mango and something faintly caramelised — almost as if it’s already been cooked.

Why it works so well in a cake

That natural caramel note is exactly what makes cempedak good for baking. We fold it into a buttery crumble base, where its sweetness needs almost no help — just enough sugar to round it out and a crumble topping for contrast in 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’d rather skip the mess and go straight to the good part, that’s what our Cempedak Crumble Cake is for — baked fresh in Tampines whenever the fruit is in season, no pork, lard, alcohol or gelatin, like everything else we make.