American · Dessert · Medium
Hummingbird Cake
A Southern treasure loaded with mashed banana, crushed pineapple, and toasted pecans, finished with tangy cream cheese frosting. Sweet, tropical, and humming with warm spice in every bite.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Hummingbird Cake, in 5 ideas
- The riper the bananas, the better: black-spotted bananas give the deepest flavor.
- Drain the crushed pineapple well or the batter turns soupy and the cake bakes gummy.
- Toasting the pecans in a 350 F oven for 8 minutes wakes up their flavor enormously.
- Because the batter is oil-based rather than butter-based, the cake stays moist for days.
- Southern tradition says this is a three-layer cake; two thick layers work too, just add 5 minutes to the bake.
What you need
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, divided
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
- 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 8 ounces cream cheese and 1/2 cup unsalted butter, both softened
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
How to make it
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
- Beat the eggs, oil, and vanilla in another bowl, then stir into the dry ingredients just until combined.
- Fold in the bananas, pineapple, and pecans. Divide the batter evenly among the pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, then beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
- Frost the layers, stacking and filling between them, then frost the top and sides. Garnish with extra toasted pecans if you like.
Canned crushed pineapple is one of the cheapest canned fruits; watch for the holiday baking sales and stock up, since it keeps for years in the pantry.