We have a Fruit & Veg Fairy Godfather. When the pandemic first hit, my parents received large quantities of slightly bruised fruit & veg from a Neighbour Friend – his brother imports these and had excess. We were happy recipients and made apple crumble, lemon drizzle cake, along with many stir fries with our bounty.

Even now, we still receive these gifts. A few weeks ago, there were copious amounts of persimmon. My Kitchen Goddess Mother painstakingly prepared the fruit (removed the hard tops and skins) then tasked me to find a use for them beyond sorbet.

I poked around online and found to my delight, Natasha’s Kitchen (whose food & recipe site I love) had a recipe for Persimmon Bread/Cake.
I have made many loaves since and Everyone I’ve gifted them to has loved it: the persimmon taste is still apparent, and the walnuts & raisins add such delight to a moist bread/cake. So, if you find yourself with quantities of persimmon, I highly recommend this recipe.
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 150g brown sugar (original recipe calls for 200g granulated sugar)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 700g persimmon pureed
- 140g unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 360g all-purpose flour
- 160g walnut pieces (original recipe calls for them to be toasted; I don’t)
- 150g raisins
- Remove tops of persimmon. Cut into quarters and puree in a blender (my Mom scooped the flesh out of the skins because they were quite tough)
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla.
- Mix in persimmon puree and melted butter.
- Stir in baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flour until well combined.
- Fold in walnuts and raisins until evenly dispersed.
- Divide the batter between prepared loaf pans. Bake for 45 – 50 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pans 10 min then turn out onto wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Some of our friends like to eat these more-ish slices hot. We prefer it chilled, better still with vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt.
I’ve never heard of persimmon cake. Does it have a touch of tart puckering as persimmons have?
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Our persimmons are actually very sweet – over sweet, I daresay, at times. This cake (which is also new to me – the fruit is typically too expensive for us to have in access) does retain a persimmon flavour, although not as strongly as banana cake tastes of bananas.
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That looks delicious! I was only introduced to persimmons last year. They are hard to come by in my part of the world. I’ve been missing out! Thanks for sharing, Ju-Lyn.
Deb
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Our persimmons are all imported as well, Deb (as is most produce). Normally, this is not a fruit I would cook with as they are expensive. But with the gift of so many ripe fruit, this just seemed the best way to go.
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Persimmons are not common in my part of the world either. But how I would love to try a slice of your loaf!
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And how I wish I could pop a loaf over to you!
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It’s wonderful to have a Fruit & Veg Fairy Godfather! The persimmon loaf sounds good.
We have a persimmon tree here, an heirloom of some sort. It is an old, very tall tree. There are two trees, male and female. They do get ripe after a good frost, but it is often a race with the autumn rains whether they ripen or rot. They are good though!
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I wonder how different your persimmon tastes from what we get here – this batch came from Israel. I imagine there are quite a few varieties out there! How lovely that you have an heirloom tree.
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I’ve never eaten persimmon but I like the look of the cake
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Thanks Sheree! It is very much like the texture banana cake – just with a hint of persimmon flavour.
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Okay, I’ll keep a look out for them
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Yum
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Thanks for delighting in this goodie with me, Sue!
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I wonder if I’ve ever even tasted a persimmon. I love the word and use it to describe something orange in color. Persimmon loaf cake sounds wonderful, and it’s great to hear that it’s calorie free! 😀
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Absolutely! The best tasting things are, of course!
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Yum. Yum. Yum. I love persimmons, but my attempts are using them in baking haven’t been that great — their taste was lost. I can’t wait until they are in season to try this recipe. Thank you!!
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The persimmon flavour is there, but not as strongly as banana flavours a bake. I’ve never baked with them till now as they are generally expensive. But with Fruit & Veg Fairy ….
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Yay for the fruit and veg fairy 🧚
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yummmm persimmon are one of our favourite fruits, I have recently purchased & planted our first persimmon tree, no fruit yet. Thanks for the recipe I have never thought of cooking them, they always get eaten too fast if we ever get them.
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Same here – I’ve only ever eaten them as fruit or dried fruit (which I also love). Here’s hoping a harvest soon!
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This looks like a lovely recipe!!! I’m so sad I live in rural Canada and we don’t get persimmons here. I’ll need to stock up when we’ll be able to visit the city! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
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