Persimmon Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Name: Persimmon Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour; 1 tsp. cinnamon; 1 tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; ½ tsp. salt; ½ tsp. ginger powder; ½ tsp nutmeg ((freshly grated)); ½ tsp. powdered cloves; ½ cup walnuts ((chopped)); ¾ cup vegetable oil; 3 large eggs; 2 tsp. vanilla extract; ¾ cup white sugar; ½ cup brown sugar; 1¾ cups Hachiya Persimmons; 4 ounces cream cheese ((softened)); ¼ cup butter ((softened)); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 cups powdered sugar

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Moist, delicious, Hachiya Persimmon Bread with the wonderful flavors of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. A great way to make use of persimmons when in season. The cream cheese frosting is optional!

Hachiya Persimmon Bread Recipe

This year, when my friend, Roselyn, dropped off of her beautiful, home-grown Hachiya persimmons (like she does most years) I decided to create a new recipe with them.

I developed this recipe by taking some of the things I loved about my Moist Pumpkin Bread recipe and tweaking it a bit. Why recreate the wheel if you don't need to, am I right?

What Goes Into This Recipe

Recipe Ingredient Notes

Persimmons — There are various persimmon varieties, but we will be using Hachiya Persimmons in this recipe.
Nutmeg — There is a huge difference between freshly grated nutmeg and nutmeg powder. The scent and taste of freshly grated nutmeg is so much better than powdered nutmeg. For this reason, I only use freshly grated nutmeg.

How to Make This Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour two 9×5 bread loaf pans.

greased loaf pans with persimmons in a green bowl

Thoroughly mix flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts.

In a separate bowl, whisk oil, beaten eggs, vanilla, and both sugars.

Whisk in the persimmon pulp.

persimmons batter in a silver bowl with a whisk

Add the dry ingredients to the persimmon mixture. Mix gently until combined.

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Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Decorate with slices of persimmons if desired. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

persimmon bread decorated with persimmons

Although I'm totally content with eating the Persimmon Bread as is, my family, on the other hand, prefers a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. The following cream cheese frosting recipe is optional.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat softened cream cheese until smooth.

Add softened butter and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.

Gradually add powdered sugar, while mixing on low. Scrape down the sides, as necessary, and mix until you achieve a smooth consistency.

Spread frosting over cooled persimmon bread.

frosted persimmon bread on a white plate with an additional loaf on the side

Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips

What Does A Persimmon Taste Like?

There are a few varieties of persimmons with Fuyu and Hachiya being the most common variety.

Fuyu persimmons are much milder in taste than the Hachiya variety. They can be eaten when still firm and crisp, like an apple.

Fuyu Persimmons are great in salads, preserves, and can even be used to make wine. Their thin skin is edible, so there's no need to peel them.

Hachiya persimmons, on the other hand, are not palatable due to their high tannin content. This changes when the persimmons are very ripe and even mushy. When ripe, their flavor is more intense than Fuyu persimmons and tastes like honey.

Although they'll make your mouth pucker when unripe, they don't have a trace of sour flavor when ripe. The pulp is perfect for making persimmon bread, jam, or blending in your shake!

How do I make persimmon pulp?

Depending on how firm the persimmon is, or what variety, making persimmon pulp is a breeze!

If making pulp with Fuyu Persimmons, blending them in a food processor would be the best option, since they're pretty firm.

Hachiya Persimmons get super mushy before they stop being astringent enough to eat. This makes them very easy to pulp. Applying slight pressure while holding them in your hand will easily turn them into pulp.

However, if you want to be more civilized, you can peel the skin off, or even scoop out the flesh from within the skin and mash with a fork.

Mixing nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, and the like, in the flour mixture first, prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf.
If you plan on decorating the top of the bread with slices of persimmons, you'll need to use firm hachiya or Fuyu persimmons. Allow room for expansion as the bread cooks.
Use a Microplane to grate whole nutmeg, instead of using powdered nutmeg.