Sweet Melissa Sundays: Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon Rum Orange Glaze

I am a big fan of quick breads....pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, banana bread so I was excited to see the the Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe pick for Sweet Potato Bread with Cinnamon-Rum-Orange Glaze from Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets. Check out her site to see her gorgeous bread and the recipe.

I wanted to half the recipe so I decided to make my sweet potato bread in a loaf pan rather than a bundt pan. Plus I don't own a bundt pan so my options were limited. Besides Hubby is more likely to eat it if it doesn't look like a cake. He is not big on sweets so I generally have to take on the great burden of eating these treats myself and sharing them with co-workers, family and friends. Its tough, but I think I can handle it! But Hubby loves sweet potato so he gave this one a go. The verdict? Moist and sweet, but he prefers pumpkin bread. And I have to agree.




The bread baked in my stoneware loaf pan at 350 for about 45-50 minutes. I omitted the nuts and added a teaspoon of vanilla. It was super moist and quite tasty. But to me it lacked a little something...I'm not sure what. I see why the glaze is an important part of this recipe. It definitely takes it up a level.

Let's talk about the glaze. Orange juice, rum, sugar and cinnamon sticks reduce down into sweet and sticky glaze to brush on top of the warm bread. I think I may have reduced mine down a little too much because it was quite thick. But once the glaze dries the stickiness soaks into the bread leaving a shiny sugar coating that is dry to the touch. I debated on using rum...I don't have a lot of experience baking or cooking with liquor so I wasn't sure how I would like it. It turned out great! The rum cooks down and adds a level of complexity to the glaze that you can't get from juice alone. Tucking the glaze recipe away for future use. :)





To me the test of a good recipe is the answer to this question. Would I make it again? Yes, but. There's always a but right? I would try it with half white sugar and half brown sugar. Also I think some chocolate chips might do the trick (I love chocolate chips in pumpkin bread and banana bread). And I would use pumpkin instead of sweet potato. Ok, who am I kidding? I probably won't make this again. I'll just stick with my faithful pumpkin bread recipe. But I still enjoyed making it and eating it! See what other SMS Bakers did.