Ripe Jackfruit cake

With a gentle tropical nudge, this jackfruit cake is a perfect bake to slice up for tea. Enjoy this delightfully soft, springy cake slice, taking you back to the sunny coastlines.

Ever since Jayanthi started on the baking journey for me,  there was no looking back! What I loved was the possibility of variation and slightly pushing the limits each time to get the perfect texture. It is certainly the joy of baking that keeps us going. The smells, that perfect looks when it comes right out of the oven and the way your whole house smells divine, this experience keeps me going back to trying new ideas.
There was one particular ingredient that I was keen to try in a cake, the jackfruit.
While living in Malaysia, I have seen plenty of dessert recipes made with durian, especially the durian cake, but not so often the jackfruit. When we bought a piece of sweet jackfruit this week, I saved a few pieces to try a basic tea cake with it. Here is the result of this experiment.

What does jackfruit taste and smell like?

To most Asian palates the strong aroma of jackfruit is natural. If you don’t like it, I get it. I was not a fan of it till I had them in Malaysia ( though I have not warmed up to the durian yet!). The fragrance of jackfruit is lingering. It has a mixed aroma of fruit with floral tones.
To eat the first flavour you taste in a jackfruit is its sweetness, wait, tropical flavoured sweetness that says between a banana and mango, yet neither of these! Now throw in a pineapple in the middle and that’s what jackfruit feels like. This is what sets it apart from a durian which has a kind of onion fragrance to it. Overall the flavour is very distinct and worth a few tries before you give up.

Ingredients to make this recipe

Jackfruit: ripe jackfruit flesh makes a soft blend and behaves very similar to a banana while baking. This is the aspect that I have used in this recipe. Choose a ripe jackfruit and extract the flesh (check the cleaning details in the post for jackfruit fritters). Ensure that the cleaned flesh has no stickiness or parts of the rind.

Eggs: Since we are making a soft tea cake, I have tried the basic egg version. Room temperature, medium-sized eggs are used in this recipe.

Milk and butter: milk and butter in the wet mix provide the soft sponginess needed for this cake. Bring the butter to a melter stage and the milk to room temperature before starting your recipe.  

Sugar: Unbleached sugar ( Raw sugar) is what I have added to this recipe. The sweetness from the jackfruit helps a bit. Still, the cake needs a bit of sugar for its sweetness.

Flour: I have used self-raising whole wheat flour in this recipe.

Sunflower seeds: The crunch of seeds is lovely to be added to the jackfruit cake. The sunflower seeds are a good addition. The alternate choices are, chia seeds, flax seeds or pumpkin seeds added to this recipe.

Let’s make this jackfruit cake.

Clean the jackfruit: the jackfruit is a bit hard to clean. Cut the ripe jackfruit into chunks and then remove the central pith. Then remove the pods from the rags. The pods will have a seed in the centre that has to be removed. Now the ripe flesh is ground into a paste that is used in the cake. Approximately I have used half a cup of jackfruit flesh as a paste to make this cake. 

Make the batter: The cake batter is a basic style that I have used. No fancy equipment, just a basic bowl and whisk is enough. Add the wet ingredients egg, milk, sugar, butter and blend till the sugar dissolves. Now add the ground jackfruit paste and mix well. In these images, I have added them step by step to show the difference. 

Baking the cake: Preheat the oven and bake the cake at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease the pan with butter and dust the pan with some flour to help with the easy removal of the cake. I have used a round pan here. You can choose a medium-sized square or heart-shaped pan, however, watch for the changes in the cooking time. Once in the oven avoid opening the oven door multiple times. This helps to keep the temperature steady and the cake rise is beautiful. At approximately 25 minutes check the centre with a skewer. If the clean skewer comes out after poking and extracting back the cake is done. Depending on the water content of the jackfruit, this may slightly vary between 25 to 35 minutes of cooking time.

Unmoulding and serving: Once the skewer comes out clean, remove the cake from teh oven and let it cook completely. Loosen up the sides and turn it upside down on a plate. The cake usually comes out very easily. Slice and serve  at teatime.

Storing the cake for later.

The cake is a great bake idea to thaw up for later. It stays great frozen for up to a month. Then the jackfruit fragrance gets diminished. To consume the frozen cake, wrap the cake in a moist towel and microwave for about 30 seconds on high to bring it back to its original softness.

Jackfruit recipes on this blog

Tender jackfruit biryani: an aromatic rice and jackfruit main utilizing the meaty texture of young jackfruit chunks. The combination of spices transforms the jackfruit into a mock meat feel.

Sweet jackfruit pongal: a traditional gluten-free dessert preparation sweetened by jackfruit. The soft cooked rice and jaggery add to the depth of the dish which is predominantly sweetened and made aromatic with jackfruit. 

Jackfruit rind curry: Save the rind and make this delicious Kerala-style curry with a coconut masala base. This is best served with rice or flatbreads.

Sweet jackfruit fritter: The easiest snack idea to make with ripe jackfruit is a deep-fried, batter-dipped, absolutely satisfying fritter. This resembles the Kerala pazhampori.

Stay connected

Jackfruit is one ingredient I love to try in many forms. The successful bake opens the possibility of trying this fruit for more people. With that classic fragrance of jackfruit but not so overpowering as a cake this jackfruit cake is worth a try. Let us know how your cake turns out or tag us when you share the idea.
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See you at the next post.