Cempedak Butter Cake

Every year around this time of the year, I enjoy baking Cempedak Butter Cake to share with friends. I love the flow of cempedak aroma with the mixed of butter, sugar, egg, and flour surrounding the entire house when the cake is baked.
Cempedak gives off a strong aroma which can even be compared to the aroma of durian, the king of fruit, when it becomes ripe. It is certainly unfair to call it the “ugly cousin” of the jackfruit.
I always choose the fruit which emits strong aroma, the skin appears light green/yellow in color with slight brown spots and also should be sticky due to the latex secretion. The trees bear fruit once or twice a year.

Cempedak is nice to eat raw, deep-fried with batter (even the seed can be eaten), and of course, make it to the tropical fruit cake…


Ingredients:

220g Butter
100g Brown sugar (the color mixed well with cempedak flesh)
¼ tsp Salt
5 Egg yolks
3 Egg whites
50g Brown sugar
220g Plain flour or multi-purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
250g Cempedak (cut into cubes or strip)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and Line 7”x 7” baking tray with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and brown sugar together for ~ 5minutes at medium speed.
3. Beat in egg yolks two at a time at low speed, allowing 1 minute beating. Scrape the mixing bowl when necessary.
4. Whisk egg whites until frothy and trickle in brown sugar. Whisk until soft peak formed (meringue).
5. Add flour and baking powder (sieve together 3 times) into batter at low speed and mixed well.
6. Fold in meringue.
7. Lastly, stir in cempedak.
8. Pour into lined baking tray and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes and 170°C for another 20 minutes or until done. Test with a skewer.

Tips:
· Adjust the sugar amount base on the sweetness of the fruit.
· Use fresh cempedak, as its aroma may lost its peak if store overnight in the refrigerator.
· Butter cake is best to eat the next day.