Jackfruit Cake
When life gives you overripe jackfruits, you make jackfruit cake! Orrrr if your mom bought a whole jackfruit from the market and couldn’t finish it all within the week and wants you to salvage it before they go to waste, you oblige. 😅 Sure, many of you probably go through a similar thought process when you end up with more overripe bananas than you can stomach: make banana bread. But with jackfruit, the result is even more satisfying.
Each slice is delectably tropical, enriched not just by butter but by coconut milk too, with a funky, punchy jackfruit sweetness that carries through the cake so well you’ll be lapping up the crumbs. And my favourite part of all — there’ll be a heady, sultry aroma lingering in your kitchen in the hours after you bake this.
Just a note about the recipe: I’ve made a version of a jackfruit cake some years ago, with poppy seeds infused into the cake. This is a stronger, bolder version of that, with more jackfruit and coconut milk in place of some of the butter, resulting in a richer, crumblier cake base.
Jackfruit Cake
Portion: Makes 1 loaf
Total cook time: 75 minutes
Ingredients
180g (6 oz.) jackfruit flesh, preferably overripe ones
60ml (¼ cup) coconut milk
120g (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
150g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
2 eggs
200g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
8g (2 tsp) baking powder
3g (1/2 tsp) salt
Method
Start with the jackfruit. Pick out a few of the nicer looking pieces (~20g) and cut them up into 1cm-wide, longish-strips. These will be used for garnishing. Put the rest of the jackfruit into a blender with the coconut milk, and blend until it turns into a rough paste. (You can also mince it with a knife, with some effort.)
For the cake batter, start by creaming the soft butter and sugar in a mixer with a paddle attachment, and beat on medium-high for 3-5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Turn the mixer down to low and add the jackfruit paste, followed by the eggs one at a time, waiting for it to incorporate nicely after each addition. Finally, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix until everything comes together into a smooth and even batter.
Preheat an oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a loaf tin with baking paper, and pour in the cake batter, smoothing out the top with a spoon or spatula. Garnish the top of the cake with the reserved strips of jackfruit, and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a cake tester or knife poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
When done, take the cake out of the oven and remove it from the loaf tin, letting it cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Then slice it up, and eat!
More Fun Recipes!
