Claire Whitley | Crumbs
Claire Whitley | Crumbs
An old fashioned southern dessert, hummingbird cake has been around since 1978. It originated in Alabama, and legend is that the cake tastes so good you’ll hum when you eat it.
For the cake:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple, not drained
- 1 ¾ cups mashed ripe bananas, about 3 bananas
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For cream cheese frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 8 ounce cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Directions:
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
- Coat three 9-inch round cake pans with vegetable cooking spray and flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add eggs and oil and stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat.
- Stir in vanilla, pineapple and juice, pecans and mashed bananas.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake on the middle rack for about 25 minutes or when toothpick is poked, it comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto the wire racks and cool completely.
- To make the frosting, beat together butter with cream cheese on medium speed for 2 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating on a low speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla and pecans.
- Assemble the cake, spreading the frosting between the layers on the top and sides.
Claire Whitley can be reached at [email protected]