Preheat your oven to 200°C. Place the whole sweet potato on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until fork tender. Allow the potato to cool fully. 

When you’re ready to bake the loaf, preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm or 23cm loaf tin with baking paper. 

Scoop the flesh from the sweet potato (you’ll need 360g of sweet potato for the recipe) and puree with a stick blender. 

Add the sweet potato puree and rest of the wet ingredients into a large bowl and mix until combined. 

In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (except the pecans) until combined. 

Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and mix until just before it’s combined. Fold through the pecans. 

Scoop the batter into your loaf tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle pecans and coconut on top. 

Bake the loaf for 45 minutes then loosely tent the tin with aluminium foil. Bake for another 20-30 minutes. 

The loaf is ready when you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. 

Let the loaf cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.