Trinidad Sweet Bread

This Trinidad sweet bread is studded with candied cherries, mixed peel, raisins and currants.

Traditionally, people in the Caribbean make coconut sweet bread to celebrate special occasions and holidays, like Christmas or New Year's day.

If you've been following my blog for a while now, you might know that I've been slowly documenting my mom's Trinidadian recipes over the years.

Today I'm sharing one of her favourite recipes to make: Trinidad sweet bread.

I've grown up eating this coconut sweet bread recipe every Christmas, toasted and smeared with a bit of butter.

Jump to:

• 🙋🏽 What is Sweet Bread?
• 🥥 Ingredients & Substitutions
• 🥣 Equipment
• 🧑🏽‍🍳 How to Make Sweet Bread
• 🍞 How to Store the Loaves
• 🖨 Printable Recipe

🙋🏽 What is Sweet Bread?

Sweet bread is essentially a baked dense coconut loaf with various dried or preserved fruits and spices. While it might look like fruitcake, sweet bread has its own distinct taste.

It's also not really a bread...

You know how we say "banana bread", when really those recipes are more like cake than bread? Sweet bread is like that. It's called a bread, but really it's more like dessert.

You can eat this for breakfast if you like, though.

I grew up enjoying it either as breakfast or a snack, usually paired with a hot cup of tea. The grown ups would sometimes have it with a glass of punch a creme.

(Now that I'm diabetic, though, this is more of an occasional treat.)

Our version of this Trini sweet bread is firm, but not dry, and it gets some crunch from a sugar glaze on top.

We've been testing this sweet bread for over a year now, largely because my mom doesn't measure anything when she bakes.

Our recipe is a bit different from the classic recipe, but I think you'll enjoy it.

🥥 Ingredients & Substitutions

Some of the ingredients in this sweet bread recipe are straight-forward (i.e. all-purpose flour, baking powder etc.) but I do want to highlight a few that are integral to the dish.

(Note that the bowl of "mixed fruit" contains the candied cherries, mixed peel, raisins and currants.)

• Shredded Coconut makes up a large portion of the dough in this recipe. Classic recipes call for freshly grated coconut, but using frozen shredded coconut saves time. You can find this at most supermarkets in the international section of the freezer aisles. This recipe may not work with desiccated coconut.
• Candied Cherries add sweetness and a pop of colour to the bread. You want the sugary candied (glazed) cherries sold in those little plastic tubs, not Maraschino cherries sold in liquid that you buy in jars.
• Candied Mixed Peel are citrus peels that have been candied with sugar. These also adds colour and a slight bitterness to the bread. If you don't like citrus peel, you can leave substitute more cherries, raisins or currants.
• Currants are my mom's personal touch in this recipe. You can just use raisins if you want to, or omit both and just used candied fruit.
• Evaporated Milk is a shelf-stable milk that can be found in cans, usually in the baking aisle of your grocery store. Do not substitute regular milk. Coconut milk may work as a substitute, but I have not tested it.
• Almond Extract is not the same as almond essence (an artificial flavouring), but you should be able to substitute one for the other at a 1:1 ratio. You could also use vanilla extract or coconut extract, or a combination of extracts.
• Fresh Ginger adds a brighter flavour than powdered ginger but if you don’t have any, substitute a little less than ¼ teaspoon of powdered to the mix.
• Light Brown Sugar adds a slight caramel flavour to the sweet bread that you can't get from white sugar. Yet it's not as intensely flavoured as dark brown sugar. You can use any sugar you have on hand though.
• Allspice is a unique spice that tastes like a combination of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. We love using allspice to replicate these flavours with less ingredients to measure. You can just use cinnamon and nutmeg, or use the mixture below.
  
  Allspice Substitute: Combine ½ teaspoon of cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves and ¼ teaspoon of ground nutmeg. This will give you 1 teaspoon of spice blend, and you can measure the ¾ teaspoon for this recipe from there. Put the rest into an airtight container and save it for later.

🥣 Equipment

You will need two 9.25 x 5.25 loaf pans, a large mixing bowl, a medium mixing bowl, a flour sifter and a wooden spoon to make this sweet bread recipe.

If you do not have a flour sifter, you can use a whisk to mix your dry ingredients and then use the wooden spoon once you combine the dry with the wet ingredients.

🧑🏽‍🍳 How to Make Sweet Bread

Making sweet bread is actually pretty easy. Unlike other bread recipes, this quick bread doesn't have any yeast and doesn't requiring any proofing or kneading.

Mix The Dry Ingredients

The first step is to sift the flour, baking powder, ground allspice and salt. My mom sifts her mixture 4 times to make sure it's well aerated.

While sifting the flour might seem like an unnecessary step, it actually adds air to the flour which can help create a lighter crumb in your finished sweet bread. If you don't have a flour sifter, use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients.

Once that's done, you can add the coconut, sugar and fruit.

As I mentioned before, traditional recipes for sweet bread call for freshly grated coconut.

This requires you to buy a dry coconut (the little brown hairy ones that you see in commercials for tropical drinks), remove the husk, and then grate the flesh inside on a box grater or in a food processor with a grater attachment.

There is nothing wrong with this method, and I've done it before, but it does take a lot of time.

Also, there will be the odd time that the coconut you've bought is rancid (it's difficult to tell from the outside), and you won't be able to make the recipe.

Using frozen grated coconut saves time, and it gives you consistent results. It does spoil quickly though (even in the freezer!), so be sure to follow the package instructions for proper storage after opening.

Some people grind their fruit in a food processor to get smaller pieces, but I like to see the large bits of raisins, currants and peel in my bread.

I just chop my cherries roughly with a knife and leave everything else as-is.

Mix The Wet Ingredients

In a separate bowl you're going to combine the melted butter, evaporated milk, almond extract, beaten eggs and grated ginger.

I know that you're supposed to use unsalted butter in baking, but we always use salted butter in this recipe. If you use unsalted butter, you will need to adjust the amount of salt in the recipe.

Once your wet ingredients are mixed, you just add them to the dry ingredients and stir to create the dough.

It's important to stir the mixture with a spoon until it's fairly stiff. It will be difficult to stir with the spoon, but this is the texture you want.

Do not try to knead the dough or mix it with your hands, as this will result in a tough sweet bread.

Once your dough is ready, pour it into two greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350°F. 

Bake & Glaze the Loaves

The final (crucial!) step to this sweet bread recipe is the sugar glaze that gets brushed on top.

Once the bread is cooked, and has a nice golden brown colour, you need to brush on the sugar glaze while the loaves are still warm.

Then you pop them back into the oven for about 5 minutes to create a crust on the bread.

You could leave this step out if you don't want to add any more sugar to this already-sweet bread, but it does add a satisfying crunch which I love.

🍞 How to Store the Loaves

First, make sure to allow your loaves to fully cool on a wire rack before cutting it into slices. Sweet bread can be served warm or at room temperature.

Any leftover bread should be store in an airtight container, or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.

Since this recipe uses fresh coconut, it can go rancid quickly. If you can't eat both loaves within 3 days, slice the remaining loaf, wrap the slices in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag for later.

When you're ready to have a slice, simply take one out, remove the plastic wrap, and defrost before eating.

Those are my tips for baking this Trinidadian sweet bread recipe successfully!

I hope you and your friends/family enjoy this recipe as much as we do. If you're looking for more Caribbean holiday recipe inspiration, you might want to check our my recipe for sorrel drink, or my coconut Chelsea buns.

🖨 Printable Recipe

This Trinidad Sweet Bread recipe was originally published on December 22, 2021. It has since been edited and updated with new information.