This Coconut Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze is so moist and flavorful — it’s perfect for an Easter brunch or a snack or dessert for any night of the week!
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I don’t know about you, but here we love coconut.
I mean, there aren’t very many dessert or brunch categories that we’ll pass up, but coconut (especially toasted coconut!) is one of our favorites.
At my favorite ice cream joint, they serve a toasted coconut cone dip that I can absolutely never resist because it is so.dang.good.
If there are people out there who don’t love toasted coconut — I will never understand!
For some reason, although I have some favorite coconut desserts, I don’t have a lot of coconut breads or muffins. This Coconut Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze is changing the game today!
It’s perfect without the glaze for an anytime snack or breakfast, or fully dressed with cream cheese glaze and toasted coconut (snag a bag of the toasted coconut chips if you can find them and then put them on everything) for a special Easter brunch or even dessert.
I love the light and fresh, almost tropical vibe that coconut gives baking.
As a full-fledged banana bread fanatic, this bread is a nice change. It’s soft and sweet and moist but not too overpowering!
How to make Coconut Bread:
All of my basic quick breads here use the one bowl method, which means that we:
- mix the wet ingredients first with a whisk so they are well combined
- Add the dry ingredients and stir slowly with the whisk, just until moistened
- Pour it into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake!
How to make the Cream Cheese Glaze:
This cream cheese glaze is simple to make and goes on just about any quick bread or sweet roll (it would be amazing on these Cinnamon Buns if you wanted something thinner than the cream cheese frosting).
Start with room temperature cream cheese (it will mix the easiest and yield the smoothest glaze!), then use a whisk (and some muscle!) or a handheld electric mixer to beat in the other ingredients.
How to freeze Coconut Bread:
Coconut bread, like most quick breads, freeze beautifully, which means they’re perfect for making ahead and saving for a day when you have surprise guests or need something for a potluck.
Simply wrap tightly in plastic wrap or store in an air tight container for up to 3 months before thawing.
To thaw, leave out at room temperature for 3-4 hours or in the refrigerator overnight.
More coconut desserts:
- Hot Milk Cake with Broiled Coconut Frosting
- Homemade Coconut Cream Poke Cake
- Easy No-Churn Coconut Cream Pie Ice Cream
- Gluten-Free Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
More Easter brunch ideas:
- Easy Ham Quiche Recipe
- Easy Mini Quiche Recipe with Spinach and Roasted Red Peppers
- Crockpot French Toast Recipe
- Cream Cheese-Filled Blueberry Lemon Bread
- Glazed Lemon Monkey Bread
Coconut Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- 3/4 cup canned light coconut milk
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 188g
- 3/4 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1/4 cup cream cheese (light or regular, 2 oz)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8×4″ loaf pan (a 9″ will work fine, you will just have a lower loaf and need to reduce the bake time by about 10 minutes)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, coconut milk, yogurt, oil, eggs, coconut and vanilla extracts.
- Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour and coconut and stir just until moistened.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Cover with tin foil for the last 15 minutes of bake time if you want to prevent additional browning.
- Let sit for 10 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- Place cream cheese in a medium bowl and microwave for 10 seconds on high to warm slightly. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Add milk and powdered sugar and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Drizzle over cooled loaf, slice and serve.
Nutrition Information
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Cynthia says
can this be made as muffins?
Ashley Fehr says
I haven’t tried it yet but I should!
Janey says
Hi, the topping looks like what I usually do for my carrot cake! Can I do this coconut cake without the coconut extract? Will it have much difference in the taste?
Ashley Fehr says
You can skip the coconut extract! It will be quite a bit less coconut-y, but if that doesn’t bother you it will still be awesome!