Hummingbird cake

Hummingbird cake
Hummingbird cake

Hummingbird cake is one of my all time favourite cakes. It’s a deliciously moist cake, made with banana and pineapple, giving a texture a bit like carrot cake. The sweetness is beautifully set off by fluffy cream cheese frosting. I originally made it using the Hummingbird Bakery‘s recipe, but since then I’ve made some tweaks and I prefer my version now!

This recipe makes a three layered 8″ hummingbird cake, so it’s ideal if you have three 8″ loose bottomed cake tins.

You need:

  • 280g golden caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 280ml sunflower or vegetable oil
  • 3 medium bananas (mashed)
  • 100g tinned pineapple crush (or chunks, finely chopped (or blended) if you can’t get crush)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 300g plain flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 100g golden raisins (optional)
  • 100g chopped pecans (optional)
  • 600g icing sugar
  • 100g butter (soft)
  • 300g cream cheese
  1. Preheat the oven to 170ºc. Grease and line your cake tins.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, oil, banana, pineapple, and cinnamon until well combined.
  3. Slowly add in the flour, bicarb, and salt and beat until fully mixed.
  4. Fold in the pecans and raisins.
  5. Evenly distribute the batter between the three cake tins. I do this by weighing them.
  6. Pop them in the oven for 25-30 minutes. They’re cooked when golden brown and springy. A skewer should come out clean.
  7. While the cakes are cooking, make your frosting. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar. Once it’s all mixed, beat on medium high for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Don’t overwhip it or it might go runny.
  8. Once the cakes are cool, run a knife around the edges and turn them out to cool on a cooling rack.
  9. Once they’re cold, spread a quarter on the first layer, then add the next layer. Spread another quarter on that layer, then add the next one. Spread the rest of the icing over the top and sides until smooth.
  10. You can decorate the top of the hummingbird cake with whole pecans if you like, though I kept mine plain.

Enjoy!

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