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

If you love coconut then this moist, subtlely sweet loaf is your new best friend.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time1 hr 10 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: coconut bread, coconut loaf, coconut

Servings: 8 slices in the loaf

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.