A little history about Hummingbird cake. The cake is thought to originate from Jamaica. It’s called the hummingbird cake because it’s sweet enough to attract the hummingbird. This cake is one of the classic cakes in the States.

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago but didn’t have the time to post. Making the hummingbird cake is very similar to making carrot cakes. It requires oil not butter and it uses the mixing method. I didn’t add any nuts to the cake this time but it goes perfectly well with pecan nuts. The key ingredients for the cake are bananas and pineapples. I used crushed pineapples from the can. I was having some issues with my cream cheese frosting – it was too melted and obviously I lacked the patience to wait for it to set before spreading it across the cake. But hey, the cake still turned out delicious!

Ingredients for the cake

1. 370g plain flour
2. 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
3. 1.5 tsp cinnamon powder
4. 0.5 tsp nutmeg powder
5. 0.5 tsp salt
6. 4 ripe bananas
7. 1 can crushed pineapples (425g)
8. 3 large eggs
9. 160ml olive oil
10. 120g brown sugar
11. 100g caster sugar
12. 1 tsp vanilla essence
13. 50g pecan nuts (optional)

Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting

1. 500g cream cheese
2. 60g unsalted butter
3. 100g icing sugar
4. 1 tsp vanilla essenc

Directions

Preparation time: 30 min
Baking time: 35-40min or when the skewer comes out clean

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Grease two 9-inch cake tins (or you can use one and then cut the cake into half)
3. Sift the flour, nutmeg and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, then add the sugar and salt
4. Peel the bananas and mash them up with a fork in another bowl
5. Drain and finely chop the pineapple and add to the bananas with the oil, eggs and vanilla extract, mix until combined, then fold into the dry mixture until smooth
6. Add in the pecan nuts into the mixture (optional)
7. Divide the batter evenly between your prepared tins
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until risen, golden and the sponges spring back when touched lightly in the centre
9. Run a knife around the edge of the tins, then leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely

To make the frosting

1. To prepare the cream cheese frosting, cream the cream cheese until light and fluffy
2. Add in the butter and vanilla essence and continue to cream until a uniform mixture
3. Add the icing sugar in in batches and continue to cream until the frosting looks smooth
4. Place the cake on a board and then spread about half of the cream cheese frosting evenly throughout the first layer
5. Stack the second layer of cake on top of the first
6. Using a palette knife, spread a thin layer of cream cheese on the whole cake surface

Tada! The classic hummingbird cake ready to be served.