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Classic Hummingbird Cake

May 6, 2014

This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut.
This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Ages ago, my cousin asked me if I’d ever made hummingbird cake. Hummingbird cake, you say? Whatever is that? After a little research, I found that hummingbird cake is considered a southern cake (from what I have found, the recipe first appeared in Southern Living magazine in 1978, which is the year that I was born, so maybe this is my spirit cake).

What I needed to know what this: how was there a southern cake that I had never, ever, ever heard of? Reportedly this is a dish that “frequents covered-dish events”. Ahem. Interestingly, I am finding as I delve more deeply into popular southern recipes that there are lots of dishes or traditional ways of making dishes with which I am unfamiliar.

This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Anyway, it turns out that hummingbird cake is an extremely moist cake filled with bananas, pineapple, cinnamon, and pecans, coated with cream cheese icing and coated with more pecans. And it spectacularly gigantic. Usually it’s baked in three nine-inch layer pans, but come on. What non-professional baker has three nine-inch pans? I have the two I got for my wedding. Hmmm.

Then I remembered a recipe that I saw on America’s Test Kitchen for a four-layer carrot cake baked in a half-sheet pan (the kind you buy in a restaurant supply store) and cut into four rectangles. Perfect. Now, I’m not going to lie. This sucker was a gigantic pain to cut and I broke a layer. Um. Oops. But you know what? That’s what icing is for-glue things back together. So if you have three nine-inch pans, by all means use them. If you don’t, you will need to be equipped with lots of parchment paper and some spatulas. But you can make it work. Believe in yourself.

This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Sorry for the motivational speech. I just don’t want you to not make hummingbird cake because it’s kind of a pill because it. is. so. worth it. It smells like the best banana bread you ever smelled and tastes like flowers and sunshine. Be warned, though, that the cream cheese icing does make this cake outrageously sweet, and I am starting a quest to find or create a cream cheese icing that doesn’t involve a crap-ton of powdered sugar. You can adjust the amounts to suit your tastes, though, and next time I may make this without the icing on the sides.

This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Mary

Hummingbird Cake

This recipe is adapted slightly from Simply Recipes .

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Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons Alchemy Spice Wake and Bake Blend in place of the cinnamon & nutmeg)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 8 ounce cans crushed pineapple (with juice)
  • 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3-4)
  • 2 cups finely chopped pecans (can toast them lightly if you wish)
  • 1lb cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 cup unsalted butter-2 sticks (softened)
  • 2lb powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a half-sheet pan or 3 9-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper, then butter the parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
  3. In another medium to large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, and sugar. Stir in the mashed bananas, the pineapple, and one cup of the pecans (I did all of the mixing for this cake by hand...do not use a mixer).
  4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (it's fine if you have a couple of lumps of flour in your batter). Pour into the prepared sheet pan or divide among the three round pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean (the sheet pan may take slightly less time than the round pans). Cool briefly in pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
  5. If you baked the cake in a sheet pan, cut the sheet in half lengthwise then cut the halves in half crosswise so that you have four roughly equal rectangles. I put parchment between mine to help with transfer; a cake lifter sprayed with non-stick spray would also be helpful here.
  6. Make the frosting: using a hand or stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and the butter until well incorporated, then beat in the powdered sugar a little bit at a time, making sure that the previous addition is fully incorporated before adding more (going slowly will keep you from making a gigantic mess...like I did). Beat in the vanilla.
  7. To assemble the cake. put a small dab of icing on a cake board to secure the bottom layer. If you baked in a sheet pan, use about 1/2 cup of icing between each layer; if you used round pans, use about 2/3 cup. Ice the outside of the cake then coat the sides with icing. I refrigerated my cake prior to serving to firm up the icing.
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https://chattavore.com/hummingbird-cake/

This classic hummingbird cake is a rich Southern favorite, with bananas, pineapple, pecans, cream cheese frosting, and coconut. | recipe from Chattavore.com

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Filed Under: By Course, By Main Ingredients, Dessert, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: cakes, desserts, Southern By Mary // Chattavore 15 Comments

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Comments

  1. Margaret says

    June 5, 2014 at 11:37 am

    thanks for the recipe I know I will enjoy
    Reply
  2. Yvonne McEwen says

    June 8, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    This cake sounds absolutely delicious I will try it for sure.
    Reply
  3. R. Joyner says

    June 12, 2014 at 12:30 am

    I am so tired. But when I read the recipe, I wanted to drag myself to the kitchen to make this awesome tribute to southern baking. Unfortunately I am missing some of the ingredients. I think I will bake the cake in loaf pans. Thank you.
    Reply
    • Chattavore says

      June 12, 2014 at 7:43 am

      Let me know how it turns out in loaf pans! I have been ordered to make this for my sister's birthday. :)
      Reply
  4. kathy stone says

    July 19, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    How do you get the pecans on the outside of the cake?
    Reply
    • Chattavore says

      July 19, 2014 at 6:48 pm

      Kathy, it was a messy process! I just pressed them into the icing with my hands....very gingerly. It's a good idea to do it over a tray to catch what falls off.
      Reply
    • Chattavore says

      July 20, 2014 at 9:16 am

      Really I guess you could say I kind of flung them at the icing. :)
      Reply
  5. Elly says

    September 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

    Here's a great frosting recipe that's not so sweet. Mix 1 cup of milk with small bx of instant pudding,set aside. Whip 8oz of cream cheese and 12 oz of cool whip till smooth. Whip in pudding mixture. Make quite a bit would be good I think on this cake.
    Reply
    • Chattavore says

      September 15, 2014 at 6:39 pm

      Thank you, Elly!
      Reply
  6. Walda says

    September 15, 2014 at 11:48 pm

    Lots of great pictures, but where is the recipe? All that comes up between the pictures and the comments is just white space!
    Reply
    • Chattavore says

      September 16, 2014 at 6:56 am

      It's there, Walda! Your browser must have had trouble loading it. Try it again. If you can't get it to work, let me know and I can send you a PDF of the recipe.
      Reply
  7. Lona says

    March 22, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    What can I use in place of the cream cheese that is dairy free? I know, I know...awful, but necessary.
    Reply
    • Mary // Chattavore says

      March 22, 2016 at 8:47 pm

      Well, I suppose you could use dairy free cream cheese, but I did a little searching and found this, which honestly sounds more appetizing to me than dairy free cream cheese: http://detoxinista.com/creamy-cashew-icing-dairy-free/. If you make it, let me know how it tastes. I've made cashew cream before but never thought about using it in something like this.
      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Thoughts for Thursday - Chattavore says:
    August 7, 2014 at 6:01 am
    […] I made hummingbird cake for my sister’s birthday this past weekend. I only used half of the icing, icing between the […]
    Reply
  2. Guilty Pleasure Foods - Chattavore Top Ten - Chattavore says:
    March 30, 2016 at 6:05 am
    […] 5.  Homemade Cream Cheese Icing […]
    Reply

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About Chattavore

Hi, I'm Mary! Welcome to Chattavore, a destination for people who want to feed themselves and their families well every day! Life can be crazy, which means that getting dinner on the table can be a challenge (more often than not!) and my mission is to take all your favorite recipes and figure out how to serve them on a Tuesday.

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Want recipes from scratch & restaurant reviews in your inbox weekly?
Subscribe below to get Chattavore's weekly newletter AND a free set of recipe cards to help you learn to cook from scratch!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
 

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