Homemade Hummingbird Cake Recipe
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This classic three-layer Hummingbird cake recipe is loaded with homemade cream cheese buttercream, bananas, and pecans for the ultimate dessert. It’s easy to make and perfect for family and friends.
My family has a serious sweet tooth and is obsessed with dessert, especially cake. It is the single most coveted meal of the day. If your family is like ours and is always looking to make new treats, then definitely try my amazing Pound Cake or Chocolate Cheese Cake.
Hummingbird Cake
If you’ve never heard of a hummingbird cake, it’s essentially a carrot cake but swaps out the carrots for mashed bananas. It has an incredibly light flavor and is commonly served with homemade cream cheese buttercream. Hummingbird is classically served as a single or double-layer cake with the frosting in between and on top of the cake. However, I like big cakes, so it’s three layers for me.
The cake was supposedly created by a young woman from North Carolina who submitted it to Southern Living Magazine in the late 1970s. It’s said to be the most popular recipe in the magazine still to this day. The dispute is that the cake was created in Jamaica and was initially known as the doctor bird, which is another name for the hummingbird in Jamaica and its national bird.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour – I used all-purpose flour for this hummingbird cake.
- Cornstarch – This is used to help make the flour fluffier to emulate cake flour.
- Leavening Agents – I used baking soda and baking powder to help leaven the cakes.
- Sugar – A combination of light brown and granulated sugar makes this cake incredibly moist and gives a darker, richer color.
- Oil – Any neutral-flavored oil will work. For the record, I used vegetable oil.
- Salt – I almost exclusively use coarse sea salt in all my cooking and baking.
- Spices – A little bit of ground cinnamon and nutmeg really help intensify the flavors in the hummingbird cake,
- Eggs – Large eggs that are chilled or at room temperature will work.
- Oil – Any neutral flavored oil, such as vegetable oil, will work.
- Bananas – It’s important to use ripe bananas. The peelings should have some brown on them. In addition, it is completely ok if there are some dark spots on the banana itself after it is peeled.
- Nuts – Pecans are more classic to use. However, walnuts can also be used.
- Pineapple – Use crushed pineapple in pineapple juice, not syrup.
- Frosting – Cream cheese buttercream is the traditional frosting for a hummingbird cake.
How to Make a Hummingbird Cake from Scratch
Roughly chop the pecans into smaller ¼” x ¼” pieces using a chef’s knife or by pulsing in a food processor.
Transfer the nuts and evenly spread them out on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for on the middle rack in the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Mix with a whisk until combined. Set it aside.
Add the peeled ripe bananas to a separate large bowl and mash them thoroughly with a fork until it is smooth and soupy. It’s ok if there are a few chunks in there.
Next, add the eggs to the bananas and whisk until it is completely combined.
Now, add in the vanilla, oil, and crushed pineapple, and whisk until it is combined and emulsified.
Transfer the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and add 1 ¾ cups of the toasted pecans. Mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
Evenly distribute the batter between 3 9” cake pans that have been buttered and have parchment paper round in them. Bake the cake at 350° for 30 to 32 minutes or until just firm in the center and browned.
Cool the cakes on a rack completely until they’ve reached room temperature. This can take up to 2 hours.
With about 20 minutes or so left in the cooling process, make the Cream Cheese Frosting. Briefly set it aside.
Remove the cakes from the pans and slice off a thin layer of the top of each cake to flatten it out.
Ice the cake in layers until it is completely coated.
Garnish the cake with the remaining ¼ cup of chopped toasted pecans
Slice and serve.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this cake up to 1 day ahead of time.
How to Store: Cover and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. Place it in the refrigerator and cover it for up to 5 days. You can freeze this covered for up to 3 months and thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving.
How to Serve: Pull the hummingbird cake out of the refrigerator and let it sit for 1 hour at room temperature before serving.
Chef Notes + Tips
- If you have cake flour on hand, replace the all-purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe with 3 ¼ cups of cake flour.
- Although it’s traditional to use pineapple, you can forgo it if you do not like it in the cake.
- Feel free to decorate the cake in whichever fashion best suits you.
- I like to use parchment paper rounds on the bottom of the prepared cake pans to help easily remove the cake. It also helps to aid in keeping the carrot cake moist.
- Try adding a ¼ teaspoon of ground all-spice to the cake mix.
- You can easily turn this into a two-layer cake using 2/3 of each ingredient. If it does not convert perfectly, round up.
- You can keep the nuts larger in size if you’d like.
- Baking the nuts will intensify their flavor, making them more delicious.
More Cake Recipes
Video
Homemade Hummingbird Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Pecans
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 cups mashed bananas, about 6 bananas
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups neutral flavored oil
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
- cream cheese frosting recipe x 2
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Roughly chop the pecans into smaller ¼” x ¼” pieces using a chef's knife or by pulsing in a food processor.
- Transfer the nuts and evenly spread them on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for on the middle rack in the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, brown sugar, and cornstarch. Mix with a whisk until combined. Set it aside.
- In a separate large bowl, add the peeled ripe bananas and mash them thoroughly with a fork until it is smooth and soupy. It’s ok if there are a few chunks in there.
- Next, add the eggs to the bananas and whisk until it is thoroughly combined.
- Now, add the vanilla, crushed pineapple, and oil and whisk until combined and emulsified.
- Transfer the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and add in 1 ¾ cups of the toasted pecans. Mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Evenly distribute the batter between 3 9” cake pans that have been buttered or sprayed with non-stick spray and have a parchment paper round in the bottom. Bake the cake at 350° on the middle rack in the oven for 30 to 32 minutes or until just firm in the center and browned.
- Cool the cakes on a rack completely until they’ve reached room temperature. This can take up to 2 hours.
- With about 20 minutes or so left in the cooling process, make the Cream Cheese Frosting. Briefly set it aside.
- Remove the cakes from the pans and slice off a thin layer of the top of each cake to flatten it out.
- Ice the cake in layers until it is completely coated.
- Garnish the cake with the remaining ¼ cup of chopped toasted pecans.
- Slice and serve.
Chef Billy, I’d like to make this cake in 2 layers with 9 or 10 inch spring-form pan,
but i think they’re a little deeper than regular cake pans, should i increase the bake time? How much would you suggest.
I probably would, but without testing it, I can’t be 100% positive on the exact timing.
You don’t mention it, so I assume you don’t have to drain the juice from the pineapple. Is that right?
Thanks.
I used fresh. Are you speaking of canned?
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks Chef!
Thanks for giving it a try!
This cake is the Best cake ever,,
Hello Chef Billy
I’m looking to make this cake, but I can not get crushed pineapple. I am going to crush pineapple rings in a food processor. What I would like to know is if I should use all of the juice from the tin can?
Thank you.
I made Chef Billy’s hummingbird cake just two days ago for my mom’s birthday (it’s her favorite kind of cake). I was nervous making a cake from scratch. But the recipe was so easy to follow! No issues at all. The whole family absolutely loved it! Perfect amount of bananas, pineapple and pecans. Plenty of icing. Mom says it was the best ever. Definitely a 5 star all the way….cake and icing!