This persimmon bread has the texture of banana bread, but it's even better because it is made with persimmons, my favorite winter fruit. It's got all the seasons winter spices, and just like how you use overripe bananas for banana bread, you get to use those overripe persimmons for this bread!
Baking with persimmons FAQ
- Use very ripe and mushy persimmons. The riper, the sweeter. Also, the mushiness of the ripe persimmon makes it so the persimmon can be evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Note that the batter is very wet, so don't concerned if it looks like wet like banana bread batter. I use a non-stick loaf pan.
- Fuyu or Hichaya? Although I prefer to eat slightly under-ripe Fuyu persimmons for snacks on the go, the over-ripe hichaya works best in the batter of this recipe. I use sliced Fuyu persimmons for the top of the bread.
- Discard as much of the persimmon skins as possible when baking for the smoothest texture.
Step by Step Persimmon Bread
Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease your 9x5x3 loaf pan with butter or baking spray.
Get three bowls: 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small. In the medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients or whisk them together to break down any clumps (flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves). In the large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well incorporated. In the small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla extract with a whisk, ~1 minute.
With a hand mixer or standing mixer slowly pour the egg mixture into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the persimmon pulp. Gently mix with a spoon or rubber spatula to incorporate the pulp throughout the batter. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients ⅓ at a time. Mix until just incorporated. See image below.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Cook 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center just barely comes out clean. Do not overbake.
My trick to an extra moist persimmon bread...
Let the bread cool completely in a sealed environment. Use a plastic bag or large resealable container. Then, leave the bread overnight and enjoy it in the morning.
Love persimmons as much as I do?
Try this wonderful winter salad, that was a hit on last years Thanksgiving table... Persimmon & Goat Cheese Salad with Radicchio and Pomegranate.
Looking for more sweets to bake?
If you like this recipe, you'll love these other Fall/Winter bakes:
- Fresh Ginger Root Cake
- Cranberry Orange Scones
- My Perfect-Every-Time Pumpkin Pie Filling
- Ginger Cardamom Ghee Tea Cookies
Or check out all my dessert recipes & sweets here!
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Persimmon Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature, plus more for greasing your loaf pan
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup persimmon pulp Hachiya preferred
Instructions
- Preheat to 350F. Lightly grease your 9x5x3 loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl sift the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the vanilla extract.
- With a hand mixer or standing mixer slowly pour the egg mixture into the creamed butter and sugar. Mix well.
- Add the persimmon. Remove from mixer.
- With a spoon or rubber spatula, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients ⅓ at a time. Mix with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.
- Pour into loaf pan*. Cook 48-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely. I let it cool overnight and have it for breakfast!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in February of 2019, but was republished with step by step instructions, and tips October of 2019.
Naz Director
So yummy!! Great seasonal cake . So different and delicious 😋
Candice
So glad you liked it... thank you for taking the time to share!
Suzie
Very yummy! My husband doesn't like persimmon, but quickly managed to eat half the loaf.
Great way to use up a bunch of them. Goes well with walnuts, which I used to decorate the cake with.
Candice
So glad you enjoyed them, Suzie. Thank you for taking the time to share, and next time I'll have to try it with those walnuts... sounds like a great combination!
MimseyBee
First time cooking with persimmons, my loaf looked very similar although it went a very dark brown. Tasted good & was moist and light in texture.
I didn't want to overpower the flavour so substituted cinnamon for a teaspoon of cardamom & added 1|2 tsp of nutmeg.
Candice
Thank you for sharing, MimseyBee!
David G Nairn
Bread.?
This is a loaf. No yeast.
I regularly make bread in a bread maker without eggs or backing soda.
Was hoping to learn how to add Persimmons to my bread recipe.
Candice
Hi David, Sorry this recipe isn't what you were looking for. It's a quickbread recipe like banana bread, not a yeasted loaf. I hope you find what you're looking for!
Karen
This recipe is just delightful! I bake a lot and love to try new recipes. The texture of this bread is amazing. It also has a balanced amount of spice to keep it from overpowering the unique persimmon flavor. I mash my ripe persimmons and freeze the pulp to use in different recipes and this will be a keeper for future baking.
Candice
Thank you so much for taking the time to share, Karen... I'm so glad to har it's a keeper... enjoy!
Sarah
If I can only find fuyu persimmons (which are very good and sweet right now), but they are definitely firm, would you recommend I put them in a blender or food processor to get a more pulpy texture?
Also - if I want to bake these as muffins, would you recommend 20-25 minutes?
Thanks!
Candice
Yes, you can use fuyu persimmons. I would recommend freezing them then defrosting and blending, instead of just blending them. This helps to ripen the persimmon when using fuyu... unfortunately doesn't work as well for hachiya.
To make muffins, bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. You can use this recipe for persimmon muffins.
Sha
This is the first time making persimmon bread. Super easy and absolutely delicious! So much so, that I made a second loaf right after tasting the first. I used parchment paper in the loaf pan and the bread popped right out with no issues. I used the same piece of parchment paper when making the second loaf.
Candice
This is music to my ears, Sharon... thank you so much for taking the time to share. Enjoy!
Mike P.
Hi, want to make this but are there any high altitude changes for this recipe? 6200’
Candice
Hi Mike,
I have not tested this recipe at high altitude, but generally speaking, you need to raise the oven temperature 15-25 degrees Farenehit, and reduce cooking time by 10-15 minutes.
Amy Palatnick
I've had a ride with this recipe, and have now made it three times in a row. I'm in a house that has no measuring cups or spoons, and no electric mixers, so my only gauge is a mason jar with some markings and my eye, and my only mixer is hand-held utensils.
The first time I made it, we had no baking soda or vanilla in the house, so I substituted them with baking powder and rosewater. The bread looked amazing in the oven but sunk a few minutes after removing it (so: definitely use baking soda). Even though the loaf sunk, it tasted so moist and delicious. AMAZING!! I had to make it again!
With the correct ingredients, I made it again and tried to hit the measurements as well as I could. The bread held form this time, but I was disappointed in the results: I liked the taste of the moist, sunken first one way better; this one seemed dry.
As we all know, third time's a charm. I made it again, doubled the persimmon to 2 cups (and left the skins on and incorporated them after reading about the health benefits of persimmon skin). I also added 1/2 tsp. of that magic rosewater to the vanilla and VOILA!! Fluffy, moist, and super duper delicious!
The next time I make it, I'm going to push the persimmons further. Why not? Plus I'll add a little more rosewater, for the magic. 🙂
Amy Palatnick
Also, I just used the empty-but-still-greasy butter wrapping to grease the loaf pan. Easy!
Candice
What a ride! Thank you so much for sharing, Amy. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and it sounds like that rosewater really was magic!
carole henmi
HI Candice -- I noticed the # of eggs is not on your ingredient list? I guessed & added two. It seemed to come out fine -- love the rich flavor!
Thanks!
Candice
Hi Carole, you guessed right..2 eggs! They're in the ingredient list in the recipe card... maybe not in the blog post? Anywho, I'm glad you guessed correctly. Enjoy!