Homemade Hummingbird Cake Recipe
If you’ve ever tasted a slice of Hummingbird Cake, you know it’s a delightful explosion of flavors and textures. This Southern classic is a perfect blend of moist banana cake with crushed pineapple, pecans, and warm spices, all topped off with a luscious cream cheese frosting. It’s a cake that not only looks impressive but…
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 cupsPecans
- 3 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 teaspooncoarse salt
- 1 teaspoonbaking soda
- 1 teaspoonbaking powder
- 1 teaspooncinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoonnutmeg
- 1 cupgranulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cupsbrown sugar
- 1/4 cupcornstarch
- 3 cupsmashed bananas about 6 bananas
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoonsvanilla
- 1 1/2 cupsneutral flavored oil
- 8 ouncecan crushed pineapple
- cream cheese frosting recipe x 2
Instructions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Roughly chop all 2 cups pecans into about 1/4" pieces using a chef's knife or a food processor.
- Spread the chopped pecans evenly on a parchment-lined sheet pan and toast on the middle oven rack at 350°F for 5 minutes. Remove and set the toasted pecans aside to cool.
- Prepare three 9" cake pans: butter or spray them with non-stick spray and place a parchment round in the bottom of each pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, and 1/4 cup cornstarch. Whisk until evenly combined and set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, add 3 cups mashed bananas (about 6 bananas) and mash with a fork until mostly smooth (a few small chunks are OK).
- Add 6 large eggs to the mashed bananas and whisk until combined.
- Add 2 teaspoons vanilla, the 8-ounce can crushed pineapple (as is), and 1 1/2 cups neutral-flavored oil to the banana-egg mixture. Whisk until the wet ingredients are combined and emulsified.
- Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Add 1 3/4 cups of the toasted pecans. Stir gently until just combined—do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly among the three prepared 9" pans and smooth the tops.
- Bake on the middle oven rack at 350°F for 30 to 32 minutes, or until the cakes are just firm in the center and browned.
- Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack until they reach room temperature (this can take up to 2 hours). About 20 minutes before the cakes are fully cooled, prepare the cream cheese frosting as indicated by the recipe, making a double batch (cream cheese frosting recipe x 2).
- When the cakes are cool, remove them from the pans and slice off a thin layer from the top of each cake to level them.
- Place one layer on a serving plate, spread an even layer of the cream cheese frosting, top with the second layer, repeat, then place the third layer and frost the top and sides of the cake until completely coated.
- Garnish the frosted cake with the remaining 1/4 cup of chopped toasted pecans. Slice and serve.
Equipment
- Oven
- Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper
- three 9-inch cake pans
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Spatula
- chef's knife or food processor
- Cooling rack
- Measuring cups and spoons
Notes
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.
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.