Hummingbird Cake
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Hummingbird Cake is a close cousin to the carrot cake but with bananas, pineapple and crunchy pecans as the stand out flavours. It still loves to be paired with luscious cream cheese frosting though.
Originally published on October, 2007.
This Carrot Cake look alike also has cream cheese frosting but the cake itself is banana, pineapple and pecan.
This is a recipe that I've had for a long time. I was reminded of it recently when I saw it featured on a TV show with chef Art Smith.
This is a very old and popular dessert in the southern states. One of my favourite things about this cake is the nutty crunch of the toasted pecans in the mildly spiced moist cake.
Those of you who know my lust for Pecan Pie will not be surprised by that at all.
Pecans and bananas are a naturally delicious combination.
Although you could choose to mash the bananas in this recipe I like to dice them into small pieces. Then, I fold them into the batter for sweet pockets of banana all throughout the cake.
I generally cut thick slices of banana and them cut the slice into quarters. That always seems to work well for me.
It may seem like a bit of overkill to add crushed pineapple to this cake.
You may be concerned about muddling the flavours but trust me, it works...and deliciously well.
The pineapple adds extra moistness and a hint of tropical sweetness. I don't know why it works...but it works. I don't question these things. 🙂
If you like this Hummingbird Cake, you're sure to love our Maple Pecan Carrot Cake!
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Hummingbird Cake
A close cousin to the carrot cake, Hummingbird Cake is just as easy to make and features the standout flavour combination of pecan, banana and pineapple.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup drained crushed pineapple
- 1 cup roughly chopped toasted pecans, Toast pecans for 5 minutes at 350 degrees for 5 minutes tossing twice before chopping
- 3 medium size bananas, ripe but firm NOT MUSHY (cut in quarters lengthways and cubed)
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon butterscotch flavoring, optional
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 cups icing sugar
- 2-4 tablespoon milk
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Grease the paper as well and dust the pans lightly with flour.
- Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Mix the sugars, eggs, vanilla, butterscotch flavouring and oil until light and fluffy. Stir in the crushed pineapple. Fold in the dry ingredients until not quite completely mixed. Finally fold in the chopped nuts and chopped bananas.
- Divide equally between the 2 prepared cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out of pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with cream cheese icing.
To Make the cream cheese frosting
- Combine all ingredients together and beat until smooth. Add only enough milk to bring the icing to a creamy spreadable consistency.
- Like carrot cake, because of the frosting, this cake should be stored in the refrigerator. I like to take it out a half hour or so before serving to let the frosting soften a little.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
16 servingsServing Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 761Total Fat 37gSaturated Fat 11gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 24gCholesterol 69mgSodium 309mgCarbohydrates 105gFiber 2gSugar 82gProtein 6g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
This site is great. Thanks for sharing. Olive
Is there supposed to be powdered sugar in the cream cheese icing?
The Hummingbird cake looks amazing!
Yes, that was a copy error. It's fixed now thanks.
My in-laws are in a nursing home and I made this cake for them as a surprise. Every time I go to visit them they want to know if I'm making it again. You made me a hero. 🙂
AH, that is so nice to hear. That made my day. Sure is nice to share something that brings people together. All the best, Barry,
PS Minor point, but, I think the baking powder is missed in the instructions Step 2
Sorry, copy and paste error. Fixed now.
this is beautiful .Am doing cakes at school i cant wait to make this one .wonderfulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
I had fun making this cake. I haven't tasted it yet but I'm concerned my cakes are too hard. I let them cool uncovered on a wire rack for several hours. Should I have covered them?
It is a bit of a denser cake but I don't usually cover anything as it cools.
This may sound like a dumb question.......but do I use self rising, all-purpose or a cake flour?
This recipe just uses all purpose flour. Self rising flour is actually unknown in these parts.
Good recipe..been using it for about 30 years...I sometimes use pineapple tid bits. Just use the juice that is with them. When I first received the recipe it was served with a rum sauce instead of the frosting and was baked in a bunt pan.
When does the oil get added to the recipe? I don't see it in the instructions.
Thanks in advance!
It is there in the instructions.
This looks yummy. What tip did you use to make the frosting swirls?