Hummingbird Cake

It’s a beautiful summer day and my mom and I wanted to bake. To carry the sweet sun into our kitchen, we wanted a cake that involved a little fruit. We found the Hummingbird Cake in Art Smith’s “Back to the Table” cookbook. Makes 12 servings and is perfect for some summer satisfaction!

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped ripe bananas

1 cup drained crushed pineapple

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs, beaten

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans

Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 4 ½ cups) sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.       Lightly butter two 9-inch round cake pans, sprinkle evenly with flour, and tap our the excess.

3.       Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. *The recipe mentioned to add the sugar as well, however we thought that may be too heavy to add atop the light, sifted mixture so we added it later.

4.        In another bowl, stir or whisk the bananas, pineapple, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined. *Do NOT use and electric mixer.

5.       Add the sugar and dry mixture and fold together with a large spatula just until smooth. *Do NOT  beat.

6.       Fold in the pecans.

7.       Spread evenly in the pans.

8.       Bake until the cakes spring back when pressed in the center, 30-35 minutes.

9.       Transfer the cakes to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes.

10.   Invert the cakes onto the racks, turn right side up and cool completely.

Icing

1.       Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined.

2.       On low speed, gradually beat in the sugar, then the vanilla, to make a smooth icing.

Finish it off!

1.       Place 1 cake layer, upside down, on a serving platter. Spread with about 2/3 cup of icing.

2.       Spread with about 2/3 cup of the icing.

3.       Top the second layer, right side up.

4.       Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.

5.       Let stand 1 hour before serving.

*I didn’t really follow all the upside-down right-side up flip and flopping of the cake. I recommend putting each layer right-side up for ease of icing.

Notes on the recipe: The cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and stored, uncovered, in the refrigerator. We used frozen pineapple chunks and chopped them up. I think they retained a little more water than we anticipated, so we had to bake the cake about 40 minutes. If you choose to use frozen fruits, try to defrost them and blot them dry as much as possible!

Thoughts on edibility: Wow! After an extended sabbatical from eating after dinner my family and I were so excited to dive into this cake. Moments after the first slice the kitchen table was silent as everyone’s taste buds sank into the bliss of the Hummingbird Cake! My mom commented that the actual cake is very similar to that of carrot cake. Dad didn’t really say much till his plate was empty. And I personally think that this cream cheese frosting will be the only recipe I use for cream cheese frostings ever again! Delicious!  

Sincerely yours in baking,
Kate