Coconut sweet bread is a dessert bread enjoyed in the Caribbean, especially for Christmas. It is made with grated coconut, candied fruit peels, raisins and more.

My recipe is an eggless version that my mother-in-law usually makes. It’s more crumbly and a lot less cake-like, but the coconut and spice flavors shine through, making it so, so good!

Chill the bread before cutting so it won’t be as crumbly and fall apart when slicing.

This post contains affiliate links.

Coconut sweet bread ingredients

For this recipe you will need: grated coconut, flour, baking powder, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, butter, condensed milk, essence like vanilla or coconut, raisins, maraschino cherries, mixed peel and brown sugar.

The grated coconut I used here is from a fresh brown coconut. As a substitute, you can use frozen grated coconut or regular shredded coconut.

In case you’re wondering, mixed peel is made with candied citrus peels and adds nice pops of sweetness and texture in the bread.

This sweet bread is very crumbly when fresh but holds its structure well after a day or two. If you want it to hold its shape from the beginning, you can use an egg substitute.

Shop Ingredients

Trini Funny Trinidad and Tobago Pajama Christmas T-Shirt

Get This

Get This

Get This

How to make coconut sweet bread

The recipe takes some effort and can get messy, but trust me it is worth it.

Prep the coconut

Step 1: Since I used a fresh brown coconut, the first step is to crack the nut and remove the white flesh. There is a rough, brown layer on the coconut meat that I remove. Then, I cut it into smaller pieces like this before adding to the food processor. The food processor grates the coconut quite effectively. Of course, you can use a hand grater to get the job done too.

coconut in food processor for sweet bread

Step 2: Preheat the oven at 350°F.

Mix dry ingredients

Step 3: With the coconut prepped, it’s time to get the dry ingredients together. To a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder.

Step 4: Add in the grated coconut and raisins. You can add the cherries and mixed peel at this point too but I usually add it after the butter.

Add butter

Step 5: It’s time to get your hands dirty and mix softened butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment to incorporate the butter, but it is not necessary. Your clean hands are perfect for this job.

Step 6: I often add the cherries and mixed peel at this point.

Add condensed milk

Step 7: Pour in the condensed milk and essence be sure to mix into a sticky dough. It really is a messy process but you want to get that sweetener well incorporated.

Bake

Step 8: Divide the dough into two and place in buttered loaf pans. It is customary to sprinkle the top with a little brown sugar. The sugar stays crunchy and adds to the texture of the sweet bread. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Here’s one of the finished loaves. Since I didn’t use eggs in this recipe, the sweet bread is usually crumbly right out of the oven. But, the next day, the bread usually stiffens up nicely and maintains its shape. Enjoy the slices with the bursts of coconut pieces and lots of textured sweetness from the raisins, cherries and mixed peel.

Sweet bread recipe

Print Recipe