A Hummingbird Cake isn’t one that many people have heard of, myself included until a few years ago. While I knew that a friend of mine always requests this on her birthday, I had never tried it and wasn’t even really sure what type of cake it was. I was thinking about baking something new and decided to give this cake a try, and I’m so glad I did!
After looking on-line at different recipes I realized the base of the cake seemed very similar to the base of my favorite carrot cake recipe, so I decided to work off of that. The other main ingredients of a Hummingbird Cake are bananas, pineapple, and walnuts. My family has nut allergies so the walnuts were instantly eliminated from the ingredients. However, if you are not allergic I would imagine some chopped walnuts would make a delicious addition to the cake.
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3 extra large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour (plus 1 tbsp)
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
2 ripe bananas, mashed
Grease and flour two round cake pans. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl beat the sugar, eggs, and oil on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well with an electric mixer on low speed. The batter will be thick.
In a third bowl mash together the bananas and pineapple. Stir in to the batter.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool on wire racks before removing from pans.
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
With an electric mixer on low speed cream the butter and cream cheese together.
Add vanilla and combine.
Add confectioners sugar and beat on medium speed until smooth.
Start frosting!
Once the cake is frosted keep refrigerated. Enjoy!
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 extra large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 bananas, mashed
- 8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
- 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and oil and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture while beating on low speed with the electric mixer. The batter will be thick.
- In a third bowl mash together the bananas and pineapple. Stir in to the batter.
- Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and reduce heat to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 20 – 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on wire racks before frosting.
- For frosting, using an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until well mixed and smooth. Add the vanilla and beat just until combined. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.