Hummingbird Cake Recipe

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Man was I in it this week.  My wife’s birthday was Tuesday and Mother’s Day is Sunday…  Now that I’m married I have to account for 3 total moms and of course by something on behalf of my daughter for my wife just because that’s what good dads/husbands do right?  After cards and presents were bought I needed a cake, so I I went all in on this Southern Hummingbird Cake Recipe which I’ve been dying to do for a few months now.  One, I love all things “South” and two it’s pretty much a carrot cake, which my favorite, but with bananas.  Seriously who wouldn’t want to make that?

The cake batter is ridiculously easy to make and for the first time you won’t have to pull out your kitchenaid, you can simply whisk by hand. WOO HOO!  To warn you though, you will need that standing mixer for later but for now go ahead and chill!  To start mix up your dry ingredients including salt, sugars, baking powder and soda, and of course all-purpose flour.   I used Bob’s Red Mill® Unbleached White All-Purpose Flour, which is unbromated enriched baking flour that is milled from high quality North American wheat.  This flour is literally perfect for all of your baking needs and it is always my go to for all things desserts!

Once the dry ingredients are mixed together it’s now time to whisk in the wet.  I know I know, it’s a lot of vegetable oil, but that is what assists in making these cakes so dang moist.  If the amount of oil scares you try backing off by about a third and replacing with yogurt.  You also may notice that there is no pineapple in my recipe, and while traditional I don’t like pineapple in my hummingbird cake my carrot cake for that matter, but that’s just me.

To finish off the cake batter fold in some mashed up bananas, or you can cut them into very small chunks, along with some toasted pecans.  Don’t forget to toast the pecans ahead of time so that you can keep the ball moving, not that I forgot to toast them or anything :-/…  Now because it’s a holiday fest over here I went for a quadruple layer cake.  That’s right, four layers of delicious hummingbird cake with buttercream in between.  Yeah I may gain 2 pounds or so, but it’s worth it :-).

I’m still trying to learn my new oven and with it not on convection there are definitely a few hot spots, but I baked them for 22 minutes and let them cool in the pan for 30 minutes and outside of the pan on a rack for 45 minutes.

To me buttercream just makes this cake, and quite frankly every cake, seriously how can you go wrong?  Make sure the cakes are completely cool before icing them.

I wanted to try something new so I didn’t ice the sides, I simply iced the top of each layer and then sprinkled some toasted shredded coconut, some chopped up toasted pecans and a few bananas.  I personally love the way this looks, and trust me it tastes even better than it looks.

So if you are like me and are struggling to make something delicious and different, then I promise this Southern Hummingbird Cake Recipe is where it’s at!  It’s also a nice consolation in case you forget your mom/wife :-).

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Hummingbird Cake Recipe

Make room for this traditional Southern Hummingbird Cake Recipe that is stacked 4 layers high and is loaded with delicious butter cream, toasted coconut and pecans!

Author Chef Billy Parisi

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 4 cups of Bob’s Red Mill® Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 2/3 cups of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
• 4 lightly beaten eggs
• 2 cups of vegetable oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla
• 2 ½ cups of mashed ripe bananas
• 2 cups of toasted chopped pecans
• 1 cup of toasted shredded coconut

For the Buttercream:

• 2 ¼ cups of softened unsalted butter
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
3. Slowly whisk in the eggs, oil and vanilla just until combined and then gently fold in the bananas and 1 cup of toasted chopped pecans.
4. Divide the batter between 4 prepared 8” cake rounds and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and firm in the center.
5. Cool the cakes in the pans for 30 minutes and then out of the pan on a rack for 45 minutes or until completely cool.
6. While the cakes are cooling whip together the butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla in a standing mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.
7. Ice each layer of the cake and top off with pecans and coconut shreds.