While going through some online cooking sites, I came across the recipe for a Southern Hummingbird Cake. My first thought was that this cake was going to be extremely sweet. I’m not much on cakes or extremely sweet desserts, but this one peaked my interest and I decided to bake one to see exactly what this cake tasted like. I was not disappointed.
Gathering the ingredients wasn’t too hard for me, I mean I had almost all of the ingredients in the pantry already. Except for crushed pineapples. Now, I wasn’t going to go out and make a special trip for one item, and I had chunked pineapples in the pantry and improvised and just chopped up the pineapples chunks. It works for me.
As most cake batters do, this one calls for vegetable oil. If you’ve ever had any type of dessert that I’ve made, it doesn’t contain vegetable oil. I use apple sauce for a substitute. Just use the same amount of apple sauce as it calls for oil. Works great and gives your cakes an additional flavor and helps in keeping the cakes moist.
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| I topped my hummingbird cake with homemade cream cheese frosting and added pecans to the top. I'm not the best cake icer, and having a husband rushing you because they want to try it doesn't help. |
Another side note before baking this cake, make sure that you have a large mixing bowl. I don’t bake often, and my Bybee bowl generally works for anything I make, but this recipe calls for you to mix your wet ingredients into the dry. I found out that a large mixing bowl would work much better and make it easier on you than trying to mix the batter in a normal size bowl and keeping the batter from spilling over the edges. Luckily I managed to make it all fit without any spills.
The recipe I found called for the batter to be divided into three small round baking pans to make a three tiered cake. The non-baker here doesn’t own round baking pans, but I do happen to own something that most people over look now days, a bunt pan! I probably use mine more than most, seeming as it’s one of the few baking utensils I own. Just spray a little baking spray, or butter the bunt pan up, dust a little flour and you are good to go.
This was one of the best cakes that I’ve had in a long time. It was moist and had a wonderful flavor, and the homemade cream cheese frosting just added that extra zip that all desserts need. Not to mention the house smelled wonderful while baking.
However, this would be a recipe to dig out for special occasions; reunions, holidays, birthdays. It is extremely rich, but delicious. Don’t just take my word for it though, make one for yourself and you will understand. I hope you enjoy this cake as well as my household, and a friend I shared the cake with. This will be my new go to cake recipe. Enjoy!
Luke 6:38 - Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
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| Luckily I had all the ingredients on hand. Like I mentioned in the article, I improvised with the chunked pineapples and substituted the oil for apple sauce. I used fresh eggs I get from my sister and they were so pretty I hated to crack them open, but for the sake of the cake, I did. |
Southern Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounces) can crushed pineapple, undrained
3 (about 2cups) ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup roasted pecans, finely chopped
Cream Cheese frosting
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda
a, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
a, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
Cream together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas, and finely chopped pecans in another large bowl. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Evenly divide the batter between the three prepared pans and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beat softened butter and cream cheese until well blended.
Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until creamy.
Note: Since I baked my cake in a bunt pan, I let it bake for 45 minutes and checked it. Make sure you compensate for the type of pan you are using.
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| This recipe makes a thick rich batter. I wasn't sure it was all going to fit in my trusty old bunt pan. |
