Coconut Bread

Sometimes when I'm visiting the home of a friend or family member, I'll take a sneaky peek at their cookbook collection and - if I'm feeling really sneaky - I'll snap photos of some of the recipes with my phone so I can make them later. What's the point of me buying a new cookbook if I can just creepily take pictures of yours when you're not looking?

So we went to visit my boyfriend's mom in Calgary recently... and long story short, I have a lot of pictures of cookbook pages on my phone now. My favourite book to look at when I'm at her house is Donna Hay's Seasons because like all of Donna Hay's other books, it's filled with pretty pictures of simple and interesting food. This recipe for coconut bread caught my eye right away.



I've never had anything like this before. It's somewhere between a cake and a quick bread... a dense coconut cake with a crunchy top that tastes like a macaroon. It's like coconut macaroon bread. It's best with something fruity like raspberry jam (Donna Hay suggests grapefruit preserves) and a cup of tea or coffee. I've transcribed the recipe for you, and I will continue to take sneaky photos of other people's books because I have no shame.

Coconut Bread
Recipe slightly adapted from Donna Hay's Seasons

Make one 9x5 inch loaf

280g butter, softened
1 tsp lemon extract, or 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
3/4 cups (165g) caster/superfine/berry sugar
2 eggs
3 cups (450g) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (80g) desiccated coconut
2/3 cup (80g) ground almonds
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 320F/160C; grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and line it with parchment.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon extract (or zest) in a large bowl or in an electric mixer. Beat until smooth and light.

3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and mix to incorporate, then add the coconut, ground almonds and buttermilk and gently fold into the mixture until moistened.

5. Spread the batter evenly in your prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely.