Coconut Loaf

If you follow me on Instagram @sweetpotatochronicless then you know my morning coffee is usually accompanied by a few bites of something sweet. I got this habit from my sweet father. He always wants a coffee cake or sweet loaf with his coffee first thing in the morning, and then, mid-morning, he’ll have his real breakfast of something more savoury like an egg on toast. My morning looks exactly the same. The first thing I do when I stumble out of bed is go straight to the coffee pot. I make myself a great, big, giant cup and then I need a half a piece of something. I usually have a home-made chocolate chip banana bread or lemon blueberry loaf on the go. Then, during quarantine, someone mentioned to me that they made a coconut loaf and immediately my mouth watered. I had to have one.

So a few trial and errors later (one way too crumbly, another with not enough coconut flavour, and one that looked more like a loaf of whole wheat bread because I used spelt flour and coconut sugar) and ta da, I have my new coconut obsession. It’s moist. It’s not too much coconut, but it’s not too little. Plus it has a sweet glaze you can omit but you may not want to since the extra coconut shavings won’t stick otherwise. If you’re a coconut fan like myself, then you really should try this loaf. It will change your mornings forever. Ok, that’s a bit of an oversell but it’s damn good.

A few things to note for this recipe is you can use all granulated sugar if you don’t have coconut sugar on-hand. Also, it’s definitely best to use room temperature eggs. You can also sub spelt flour for ap. I tried it in my first iteration of this recipe and, like I said, it has the hue of a wheat bread but all the flavours are still there. I was just looking for a golden cake so made the big switch to ap, but my spelt version was still delish.

Print Recipe

Coconut Loaf

Makes: 8 slices

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr 10 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature ( 1 1/2 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup canned coconut milk, reserve remains of can for glaze
• 1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut, divided
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Glaze

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 -4 tbsps reserved coconut milk
• 1/4 cup remaining shredded coconut

Instructions

• Preheat ovent to 375. Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, add your butter and sugars and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes until the mixture is light and creamy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the vanilla extract and mix.
• Alternating between the flour mixture and the coconut milk, add each in three additions ending with the flour.
• Fold in the 1 1/2 cups of the shredded coconut.
• Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in the oven for 60 – 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Remove loaf from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan and allow to completely cool on a wire rack. Combine powdered sugar and reserved coconut milk. Drizzle over top of loaf and sprinkle with remaining coconut.