Hummingbird Cake
So yesterday I noticed we had a few over-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, and I decided I wanted to make something new, rather than my fail safe Banana Muffins. And so I did a search and found a recipe for Hummingbird Cake. Perfect, I thought, I only needed to buy the crushed pineapple and some cream cheese. It’s a pretty simple recipe, great to whip up for afternoon tea or to use up any extra bananas.
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
200g brown sugar
50g desiccated coconut
440g can crushed pineapple, drained plus 1/2 cup juice
2 or 3 over-ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125ml (1/2 cup) canola or vegetable oil
CREAM CHEESE ICING
100g cream cheese
70g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
275g icing sugar mixture
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, to garnish (optional)
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line the base of a 23cm square cake pan.
- Sift flour and spices into a large bowl. Add sugar, and coconut and stir until well combined.
- Add pineapple and juice, banana, eggs and oil. Stir until just combined.
- Spread into lined pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Place on a rack and set aside to cool.
- To make icing, place cheese, butter, vanilla and icing sugar in an electric mixer and beat until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake. Garnish with walnuts, if desired (I’m not a fan of nuts in cake so I left these out).
Serves 8
Anna
I believe every household has an ounce or two of ripe bananas somewhere in the kitchen…This is the perfect recipe! I am happy to know that this includes pineapple too, which is a very good gift to our digestive tract. Thanks for the post. I’ll have a hummingbird treat in a few hours…Why the name, by the way?
Sarah
Oh I didn’t know that about pineapple! Thanks for the tip! It’s not known why it’s called a “hummingbird cake” – apparently the first time it was published, the author gave no explanation to the name..
Sneh | Cook Republic
Looks delicious! oooh so moist. Its good bananas are going cheaper everyday 🙂
Sarah
Thanks 🙂 Yes, it is a very moist cake I think thanks to the bananas and the oil – the original recipe I used called for a cup but I thought that would be too much!
Purabi Naha
This hummingbird cake looks delishh! What an interesting photography! Loved everything about your blog. http://cosmopolitancurrymania.blogspot.com
Sarah
Thanks Purabi 🙂 I love curries so I am going to have fun reading your blog too!
CarolinaLaughs
Is this the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery?
Sarah
No it’s not sorry, just one I found from taste.com.au and altered slightly. But I think it’s quite a traditional recipe.
The Teenage Taste
Love the idea behind this cake – I love the flavor combination of bananas and pineapple!