While I’d love to say that my love for all fruits are equal, just like how every primary school teacher has their favourite (and least favourite) child in each class, I definitely have my fruit biases too. In the same vein though, just like how teachers should try to coax the best out of each kid, I’d treat my fruits the same. So this week, I’m sending my least favourite fruit for remedial classes. Starfruit, principal’s office, now.

Yes. Starfruits, to me, are one of the most underwhelming fruits out there. While they might look visually unique and enticing, their tannic, turgid, limp-apple texture, along with a flavour comparable to that of a nowhere-near-ripe pineapple, starfruit is that kid in class that on initial glance, seem to have the makings of an A-star student (pun intended), but in exams, when it matters most, just keeps flunking. It’s the Madonna of fruits, really—tons of flair, fireworks and shape-throwing, often considered a star, but struggles to keep up with the rest of the pack. (Sorry, Madonna fans.)

But as an exemplar teacher-slash-cook, I wanted to bring out the best in my student-starfruit, giving it a vessel, a stage on which its innate strength can shine. And what is starfruit’s strength, you might ask? Why, its shape, of course!

And what better pastry item to show off shapes than in an upside-down cake! While pineapple rings and a flourish of glazed peach slices can look like stunners, they’ve got nothing on the literal star of fruits. After cooking it in caramel and after a thorough bake, the slices of starfruit still maintain their shape on top of the cake, flaunting off all of their angles in full cosmic glory.

Along with showing off starfruit’s shape, working it in an upside-down cake also gives it more flavour. Turns out there’s nothing a little sugar and butter can’t fix. By cooking it in caramel, and giving it a cushion of lemon-scented cake to sit on, the sweet tanginess of the stars is amplified, and its tropical perfume is coaxed right out of its rigid cell walls too, becoming, in all sense of the word, a star.