Hummingbird Cake Recipe

Studded with pineapple chunks, bananas, crunchy pecans, and coated in a tangy cream cheese frosting, hummingbird cake is an opulent dessert that’s been a mainstay of Southern tables for the reason that Seventies. Although hummingbird cake is an American basic, it hails from Jamaica and is also referred to as the Dr. Fowl cake—its title is a nod to the island’s nationwide chook, who locals seek advice from as Dr. Fowl. Writing for Epicurious, Riaz Phillips notes that the cake gained recognition after the Jamaican Vacationer Board distributed a recipe to native newspapers to advertise the island’s native bananas and pineapples. 

“The cake itself is the peak of mid twentieth century post-colonial tropical aptitude,” Phillips writes. “Bananas and pineapples are blended right into a sponge that’s enhanced with spices like vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon—components which are virtually an afterthought at present, however have been nonetheless comparatively novel on the time.” The recipe made its method to America, the place some dwelling cooks nicknamed it “The Cake That Gained’t Final Lengthy” as a result of, properly, it was so scrumptious that it by no means did. Its recognition soared after Southern Dwelling printed a reader-submitted recipe for the cake in 1978, and at present, the 45-year-old recipe stays one of many journal’s most popular recipes of all time.

When Severe Eats requested our colleague Nicole Hopper, a seasoned recipe developer, to create a brand new hummingbird cake recipe for us, we knew we needed it to be true to the unique. However we additionally needed to pack in as a lot candy banana and pineapple taste as attainable with out being cloying or stodgy, as some hummingbird muffins might be. Hopper delivered, with a easy, scrumptious cake that will get an enormous tropical kick from mashed and chopped bananas and crushed pineapple, with aromatic toasted pecans for crunch and a tart cream cheese frosting to stability the sweetness of the cake. I’d fortunately have a slice of it—frosted or unfrosted—with a cup of espresso each afternoon if I may. 

Hummingbird cake is comparatively simple to whip up, however the ideas beneath will enable you make an exceptional one every time. Simply don’t be stunned if it disappears shortly—with not a crumb left behind—once you serve it to company. It’s, in any case, the cake that received’t final lengthy.

Ideas for Getting ready Hummingbird Cake

Use bleached cake flour. Excessive protein flours are likely to develop extra gluten, leading to sturdier, harder baked items. Whereas that is nice for bread, it’s not perfect for a cake during which you desire a tender crumb. With a decrease protein content material than pastry flour and all-purpose flour, cake flour produces a light-weight and fluffy crumb, making it our go-to flour for hummingbird cake. (Former Severe Eats editor Stella Parks has written at size about the science behind bleached cake flour.)

Overripe bananas are your greatest pal. The riper the banana, the sweeter it’s. Because the fruit matures, its starches convert into sugar, creating wealthy notes of caramel, honey, and pineapple. Ripe bananas are simpler to mash, too, which makes prep a lot quicker and simpler. Search for speckled fruit with brown or black patches. In case your banana may cross for a giraffe, you’re heading in the right direction.

Mash—and chop—your bananas. Most hummingbird cake recipes name for simply mashed bananas, however we needed chunks of banana dispersed all through, too. We experimented with simply chunks, however the fruit wasn’t evenly distributed and the batter lacked the tropical notes that mashed banana introduced. The answer? Utilizing each mashed and chopped bananas. It’s the perfect of each worlds, and ensures you get banana taste in each chew.

Go for the canned pineapple. Recent pineapple accommodates bromelain, an enzyme that may break down proteins. This spells dangerous information for glutenin and gliadin, two proteins that function the constructing blocks of gluten. Because the cake bakes, the bromelain eats away on the gluten proteins, leading to a stodgy crumb. Canned pineapple doesn’t have any lively bromelain, as the method of heating the pineapple to 158ºF (70ºC) deactivates the enzyme. To stop your cake from baking into an unpleasantly heavy brick, use canned crushed pineapple in lieu of contemporary.

Toast your pecans. To convey out the candy, delicate flavors of pecans, toast them briefly on a baking sheet within the oven till they’re golden brown and aromatic. The nuttiness provides one other layer of taste to the cake, and enhances the sweetness of the fruit.

Preserve the cream cheese frosting easy. Cream cheese frosting is a should for hummingbird cake. For this recipe, we beat cream cheese, unsalted butter, confectioners sugar, a tablespoon of reserved pineapple juice from the can, and vanilla extract collectively. Unfold generously between the layers and over the cake, it supplies a tangy distinction to the cake’s tropical flavors.

Take the inner temperature of the cake. Bakers sometimes gauge the doneness of their muffins with a toothpick, cake tester, or by frivolously urgent the highest of the cake to see if it springs again gently. As a result of hummingbird cake is so moist and packed stuffed with fruit and nuts, it may be tough to inform when it’s carried out with these conventional strategies. Essentially the most dependable method to see if the cake is able to come out of the oven is to take the inner temperature of the cake with an immediate learn thermometer. Search for a temperature of 200ºF (93ºC).