With its signature flavors of banana, pineapple, pecans, and spice, this hummingbird Bundt cake will fly your tastebuds off to someplace heat and sunny. High with a cinnamon-spiced cream cheese icing and extra toasted pecans for a cake that can disappear as shortly because the chook it’s named after. 😉
There are many incredible recipes on the market for hummingbird cake, and so they’re all fairly related. I tailored this Bundt cake variation from Southern Residing‘s ever-popular recipe. It has all the primary parts of the traditional hummingbird layer cake:
- Banana
- Pineapple
- Toasted pecans
- A little bit spice
- Cream cheese icing
…however in Bundt type. This can be a tremendous plush cake with tons of textures and flavors to like (and minimal adorning required). Right here is my hummingbird layer cake should you ever need to attempt it, too!
FAQ: Why Is It Referred to as Hummingbird Cake?
Once I first started making this cake from scratch, I used to be interested by its title and origins. The cake taste originated in Jamaica. A model of the recipe was printed by Southern Residing journal within the late Seventies, which led to the cake’s reputation within the American South. Now hummingbird cake is sometimes called a Southern traditional. And as for its title, the cake was named for Jamaica’s nationwide chook!
Hummingbird Bundt Cake Components:
- Pecans: Toast them first. It makes a world of distinction, belief me! I all the time advocate this for carrot cake, too. You’ll use some within the batter and the remainder as garnish on high.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the bottom of this cake.
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder: We’re utilizing each leaveners right here, for double-duty to elevate up this naturally heavy cake.
- Cinnamon + Allspice: These heat spices pair fantastically with the banana and pineapple.
- Salt: A little bit salt balances the candy.
- Eggs (from chickens, not hummingbirds!): Eggs bind all of the substances collectively.
- Vegetable Oil: A neutral-tasting oil makes this cake splendidly moist whereas letting its important flavors shine.
- Bitter Cream: Bitter cream lightens up the crumb of this cake, so it isn’t overly dense.
- Granulated Sugar + Brown Sugar: A mixture of each sugars sweetens the cake.
- Vanilla: Taste-enhancer extraordinaire!
- Bananas: You need the super-ripe, brown and spotty ones such as you use for banana cake. You may also use thawed, beforehand frozen bananas. See How you can Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Pineapple + Juice: You need to use recent or canned pineapple on this cake. Finely chop it, and embrace slightly pineapple juice within the batter, too.
Behind the Recipe Testing
After making at the least half a dozen hummingbird Bundt desserts, my staff and I are very pleased with the ultimate end result. Once I began growing this recipe, I checked out loads of different bakers’ recipes for hummingbird cake, in addition to my very own hummingbird cake recipe. For essentially the most half, the recipes that exist on-line for the layer cake are all fairly related. Listed below are the 4 notable adjustments I made for this Bundt cake variation, and why:
- Much less banana: Our early makes an attempt got here out tasting type of like banana bread, with some pineapple in it. Whereas clearly I really like banana bread, the banana taste was overpowering all the things else on this cake. Utilizing equal quantities of banana, pineapple, and pecans within the batter leads to a extra balanced taste profile, with no single taste hogging the highlight.
- Chopped pineapple as a substitute of crushed: Most hummingbird cake recipes name for a can of crushed pineapple, however I favor to cut it up myself. This manner you’ll be able to management how giant you need the items to be, and select whether or not you begin with recent pineapple, canned slices, or chunks/tidbits measurement. A pair spoonfuls of juice go within the batter, too, for much more moisture.
- Lowered the sugar: Nearly all of recipes appear to name for two cups of white sugar within the batter, however my style testers and I believed this made the cake method too candy. There’s loads of pure sweetness coming from the pineapple and banana, so I lowered the quantity of sugar. I additionally use some brown sugar, for slightly additional moisture and that heat molasses taste brown sugar supplies (which pairs so nicely with the spice taste).
- Added bitter cream: This was a late addition within the recipe testing course of, and my staff and I may actually style the distinction! Bundt desserts are usually fairly dense, and bitter cream serves to loosen up the crumb.
I like to make use of pineapple chunks. Finely chop them on a reducing board. You need to use canned or recent:
The batter is thick and textured. Use a Bundt pan that holds 10 to 12 cups of batter, akin to this one or this one. As a result of Bundt cake pans fluctuate a lot in depth and form, the bake time will differ. I like to recommend you start checking it at 50 minutes. It’s going to most certainly want extra time, so proceed checking each 3 minutes or so. My hummingbird Bundt desserts all took about 58 minutes.
Cinnamon-Spiced Cream Cheese Icing
To get the gorgeous drippy look you see pictured right here, beat collectively equal elements softened cream cheese and butter, then add in confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and—the shock addition—slightly heat milk. This makes a cream cheese icing that’s simply the appropriate consistency for adorning this hummingbird Bundt cake. I additionally stir in a sprinkle of cinnamon for an additional kiss of spice, however that’s fully elective.
Spoon the icing over the cake slowly; it’s going to start to drip down the edges, and you should utilize the spoon to assist information it the place you need it to go.
End with a sprinkle of toasted pecans, and this hummingbird cake is able to fly… proper off the cake stand! (The one pictured is that this one. It’s lovely in individual!) You can additionally beautify the iced cake with coconut, like I do with this coconut Easter cake.
Hummingbird Bundt Cake
Prep Time: quarter-hour
Cook dinner Time: 65 minutes (contains nuts)
Whole Time: 4 hours (contains cooling)
Yield: serves 12
Class: Cake
Methodology: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
This hummingbird Bundt cake has all the primary parts of the unique hummingbird layer cake: banana, pineapple, toasted pecans, slightly spice, and cream cheese icing. This can be a tremendous plush cake with tons of textures and flavors to like (and minimal adorning required).
Directions
- Toast the pecans: Preheat oven to 300°F (149°C). Line a big baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Unfold the chopped pecans on the sheet and toast for 7–8 minutes. Take away from the oven and permit to chill for 10–quarter-hour.
- Flip the oven temperature as much as 350°F (177°C) and grease a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan. Put aside.
- Make the cake: In a big bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt collectively till mixed. Put aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, pineapple juice, and bitter cream collectively till mixed. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk till mixed. Whisk or fold within the banana, pineapple, and 1 cup (130g) of the pecans.
- Pour the moist substances into the dry substances and fold with a silicone spatula till mixed. Batter is thick. Spoon/pour the batter into the ready Bundt pan.
- Bake for 55–60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clear with only a couple frivolously moist crumbs.
- As soon as achieved, take away from the oven and permit to chill for 1 hour within the pan set on a wire rack. Then invert the marginally cooled Bundt cake onto a serving plate/cake stand. Enable to chill for at the least 1 extra hour earlier than icing. Cake can nonetheless be barely heat when icing it.
- Make the cream cheese icing: In a big bowl utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter collectively on medium-high pace till easy, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and a pair of Tablespoons (30ml) of heat milk. Beat on low pace for 30 seconds, then improve to excessive pace and beat for two minutes till fully mixed and easy. Stir in cinnamon, if utilizing. Skinny out with 1 extra Tablespoon of milk, if desired (I often do). Spoon the icing excessive of the cake, and sprinkle with the remaining toasted pecans.
- Cowl leftover cake tightly and retailer at room temperature for as much as 1 day or within the fridge for as much as 5 days. I wish to carry it to room temperature earlier than serving.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: Put together cake 1 day prematurely. Cool fully, cowl tightly, and preserve it at room temperature till able to ice and serve. To freeze, cool cake fully, wrap tightly, and freeze for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day at room temperature and produce to room temperature earlier than icing and serving.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | 10- to 12-cup Bundt Cake Pan (I like this one and this one) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Mini Bundt Pan: I don’t advocate utilizing this batter for mini Bundts. The batter is simply too thick and chunky for the mini measurement.
- Nuts: Be at liberty to skip the pecans, or exchange them with walnuts. No different adjustments mandatory.
- Oil: This recipe is finest with vegetable oil or canola oil. If you wish to use coconut oil, soften it first, and make certain that the entire different substances are room temperature. Bake the batter immediately, as a result of because the coconut oil begins to chill and solidify, it thickens the batter and will lead to a very dense cake.
- Bitter Cream: You possibly can substitute plain Greek yogurt for bitter cream, if wanted.
- Can I Depart Out the Bananas? As a substitute of bananas, you'll be able to attempt applesauce and I’m positive shredded carrots would work as nicely (although I've not examined the carrots). Or you can also make this pineapple carrot cake as a Bundt cake. See the recipe Notes in that recipe for making it a Bundt. It's going to nonetheless depend because the problem.
- Extra Topping Choices: Brown butter icing from my peach Bundt cake; do-it-yourself whipped cream; brown sugar glaze from my apple Bundt cake; orange glaze from my cranberry orange Bundt cake
