The Sweet Treat That Never Stops Flying

This week I have a recipe for Hummingbird Cake to offer you from The Joy of Baking website. I'd never heard of this delightful cake until I had a slice at The Grit. To me, it's like a banana bread cake with the added notes of pineapple and roasted pecans. Because this is not the sweetest cake, a cream cheese frosting adds the perfect touch even for non-frosting lovers. 

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

1 cup pecans, roasted and finely chopped

3 cups flour (A Tip: Never scoop directly from the flour bag with a measuring cup because the amount will be packed tighter and yield more flour than if you spoon flour from the bag into a measuring cup)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 large eggs

3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. can crushed pineapple, do not drain

4 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

                    Icing

                    2 cups of Confectioners Sugar

                    8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature 

                    1 stick of butter, softened 

                    1 tsp. vanilla. extract

                     1/2 cups pecans, roasted and finely chopped

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread all the pecans on a baking sheet and brush evenly with butter. Roast in the oven for about 8 minutes, tossing about halfway through. When done, chop finely until, you have 1 1/2 cups. Leave the rest whole for cake decoration.

2. Grease two cake pans with either Pam or butter and line the bottoms with a round of parchment paper. 

3. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. 

4. Mix together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas and 1 cup of pecans.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a fork until combined. 

6. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and cook for 25-30 minutes.

7. To prepare the frosting, use a mixer to combine confectioners sugar, cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

8. When the cake is completely cool, frost and decorate with whole roasted pecans as you see fit.

I attempted to draw a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower with my pecans...

Here I cooked the batter in a scone pan, producing these adorable individually-sized cakes.