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.
Notes
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.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.