Jamaican Coconut Bread

Okay, so there's one lonely slice of the Black Beast remaining in the fridge so I reckon it's just about time to bake something else. That's the way it is in my house; there's some strange unspoken quirk in which none of us want to be the one to take the last piece/cookie/slice etc. I think I'll have to be the brave one here.

As I still had about 1 cup worth of evaporated milk left sitting in the fridge from the icing last week, I had a look through all of my bookmarked recipes to find one in which I could replace the ordinary milk with evaporated milk. This is what I settled on:

Jamaican Coconut Bread

Dad "What are you baking?"
Me "Like banana bread, but with coconut instead of the banana.. coconut bread. Jamaican to be exact."
Dad "Yeh ya-makin (ja-maican) coconut bread"
Hah...


My version:
2 eggs
300ml evaporated milk
1 generous tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose flour)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup caster sugar
150g shredded coconut
75g unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 190C (mine got dark on top quickly so it should be 170C fan-forced). Line with baking paper and/or grease and flour a 21x10cm loaf tin.
2. Lightly whisk eggs, milk and vanilla essence together in a medium bowl.

3. Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl.

4. Add sugar and coconut to the flour and stir to combine.

5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Stir until just combined.

6. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture is just smooth, taking care not to over-mix.
7. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a metal skewer comes out clean.

Lick the bowl and have a coffee while you wait :)

8. Leave in the tin to cool for 5 minutes, then remove to cool further on a cooling rack.
9. Eat! Fresh from the oven, toasted with butter and icing sugar, cold from the fridge. Whatever tickles your taste buds.

Verdict: mine came out quite dark on the outside as I had the oven at 190C for a while then only gradually turned it down to 170C throughout the hour. Taste and texture wise it is delicious! Crispy on the edges and dense but moist on the inside. Very coconutty. Will be a bit more heavy-handed with the cinnamon next time.

Next up: something lemony, minty or macaron-y.