Hummingbird Cake
Hummingbird cake doesn’t get as much notoriety as it should. It’s not a cake you see on many menus and I don’t understand why because this cake is delicious! To be honest, I’ve heard of hummingbird cake before but never actually tried it. Probably because like I said, I don’t see it around…so I decided to make it myself!
When looking at the ingredient list, I can see why this cake may sound overwhelming to some. The crushed pineapples, bananas, toasted pecans, cinnamon and a cream cheese frosting seem like too many flavors in one dessert. But trust me on this, somehow all these flavors just work wonderfully together!
Yes, it’s a sweet cake BUT the toasted pecans and cinnamon help tone down the sweetness a great deal. The crushed pineapples and bananas make this cake super moist and the use of canola oil gives the cake a light and airy texture.
I’ll always be a vanilla cake and classic buttercream frosting kind a girl but this Hummingbird Cake is probably in my top five favorite cakes!
The ingredient list is long…I know but look on the bright side, you don’t need to use a mixer! All you need two bowls and a whisk and you’re all set!
Cake recipe taken from, Hummingbird Cake, Joy of baking. Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is my own.
- 1 1/2 cups pecans Reserve half cup for frosting
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 8oz can crushed pineapple don't drain juice
- 2 cups mashed very ripe bananas about four medium bananas
- 12 oz cream cheese, room temp
- 6 oz unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6-7 cups powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray 3 round 8-inch pans and line the bottom with parchment paper and butter the top of the parchment paper as well. Place pecans on baking sheet and toast for 5-6 minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then finely chop the pecans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ONE cup of the chopped pecans (reserve half cup for frosting). In another large bowl, beat the eggs, oil, bananas, pineapple (with the juice), and vanilla until well blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to check for pockets of flour.
- Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack, after about ten minutes release the cake from the pans and allow to cool completely.
- In a large bowl sift the powdered sugar and set aside. Using a stand mixer, beat together the room temperature cream cheese, softened butter, vanilla and salt until smooth and slightly fluffy about 3 minutes. with the mixer on low speed add the sugar two cups at a time. Once you've added all the sugar, scrape the bottom of bowl with spatula and turn the mixer on medium high speed and beat really well until very smooth.
- First to ensure the cake layers are all even, cut the domed part of the cake with a serrated knife. You can use the cake scraps to make cake pops or eat them like I did 🙂 To assemble the cake, place one cake on your serving platter. Spread with about a third of the frosting. Gently place the other cake layer on top, repeat with third layer and spread the rest of the frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Take the reserved 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and decorate the cake any way you like!
