A very soft, extremely large type of fruit (5)
I believe the answer is:
apple
'type of fruit' is the definition.
(I know that apple is a type of fruit of Maloideae)
'a very soft extremely large' is the wordplay.
'very soft' becomes 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo).
'extremely' suggests removing the centre (only the extremes of the word are used).
'large' with its middle removed is 'le'.
'a'+'pp'+'le'='APPLE'
(Other definitions for apple that I've seen before include "Crab, cooking or eating fruit" , "Common fruit" , "Jonathan perhaps" , "Granny Smith, for one" , "Fruit that keeps doctor away?" .)