How to Make The Best Easy HummingBird Cake
Easter is around the corner and Hummingbird Cake is the PERFECT dessert to serve! It is moist, tender, and full of delicious warm spices and Spring flavours like banana and pineapple.
If you have never heard of Hummingbird cake before it is a vanilla cake full of banana, pineapple and toasted pecans. You get all the delicious spices and flavours of banana bread but with a tropical Spring twist from the pineapple. I can’t think of a better cake to bake this Easter.
Making this cake is extremely easy. The cake starts with a simple batter, all mixed by hand in just a couple minutes. Then, you fold in toasted pecans and bake it until golden brown. Once the cake is baked, I like to chill it in the freezer to firm up before slicing it in half. It then gets layered with a thick and smooth cream cheese frosting that ties it all together!
This cake is so great for holidays or any gatherings because it is a flavor everyone loves! You can make it fully in advance, and then it is ready to enjoy when you are. It can be baked in any shape can you like, and decorated exactly how you want it. Oh, and if you are gluten free you can bake it with gluten free flour too.
Tips for Making Perfect Hummingbird Cake
- Make sure to use nice over ripe bananas. There is not much sugar in this cake, so you want bananas that are really nice and sweet.
- When mixing the batter, mix just until combined. With any cake, you want it to stay soft and tender, over mixing can create a tougher cake with holes throughout. That is why I love to do this cake by hand.
- Any time you are going to ice a cake, I always recommend storing it wrapped in the freezer before decorating. This will make the cake nice and easy to slice and stack, but with also firm up the icing so that the cake doesn’t try to slide.
Hummingbird Cake Ingredients
Banana– As mentioned above you want nice over ripe bananas for maximum sweetness.
Pineapple– Crushed canned pineapple is what you want for this recipe. Do not drain it.
Butter– Salted or unsalted is fine.
Eggs– You want room temperature eggs. If you want to do this quickly, place eggs straight from the fridge into a bowl of slightly warm water.
Buttermilk– This can be store bought or made at home with just milk and a splash of vinegar or lemon juice.
Pecans– I like to toast them before adding them to the cake but you do not have to.
Sugar– You just need a small amount of granulated sugar for the cake and then powdered sugar for the icing.
Flour– All purpose flour is all you need. If you want to make it gluten free use Bobs red mill 1 to 1 gf flour.
Baking Powder– Make sure it isn’t too old as baking powder can stop working if it is very old.
Baking Soda– The combo of both baking soda and baking powder gives this cake perfect rise and texture.
Spices- Cinnamon and nutmeg give those classic banana bread flavours to this cake.
Cream Cheese– You want to use brick style cream cheese to get a nice thick frosting.
The Steps
Bake the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350F, then place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes or until nice and toasted. Remove from oven to cool.
- For the cake, start by whisking together the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl until combined.
- Then, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Take the flour mixture and gently fold it into the wet mixture just until combined.
- Once combined, fold in the buttermilk and about 3/4 of the pecans.
- Now, grease a 9 inch round pan, and pour the batter into the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Once the cake is baked, allow it to cool for 20 minutes, then flip it out of the pan, wrap is plastic wrap or place in a container, a cool in the freezer until firm (or until you are ready to decorate)
Make the Icing & Decorate
- For the icing, beat the butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until pale and fluffy, about 7-9 minutes.
- Then, add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time, beating in between additions until smooth.
- Finally, add in the cream cheese and beat just until smooth. I like to use cream cheese that is still slightly cool and not too soft as it keeps the icing nice and thick.
- When you are ready to decorate the cake, use a serrated knife and slice the cake in half lengthwise.
- Take one layer of the cake and place it on a plate or cake stand.
- Then add the icing to a piping bag, and pipe a layer of icing over top.
- Place the second layer of cake on top, then add the remaining icing on top of that. I like to put my icing in a piping bag with a large round tip and pipe little blobs all around the top of the cake. It is easy and looks cute!
- Finish the cake off by adding some of the toasted pecans on top and some toasted coconut if you like. Enjoy!
If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or a recipe review below!
Looking for more recipes to try for Easter?
https://cmbarndominium.com/sourdough-strawberry-shortcake-cake/
https://cmbarndominium.com/how-to-make-soft-blueberry-sourdough-cinnamon-buns/
https://cmbarndominium.com/mini-fruit-pavlovas-with-ricotta-whipped-cream/
A moist and tender banana cake full of pineapple and toasted pecans, topped with a thick and silky cream cheese icing. * To make this cake gluten free sub the all purpose flour with Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free flour. ( the blue bag) * This cake can also be baked in a square pan if you prefer and you dont have to cut it into two layers. You can just ice the top if you want. * To make this cake in advance, store the baked cake wrapped in the freezer for up to a week and make the icing to store covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. You will want to let the cake and the icing sit at room temperature for about an hour or so to soften before decorating. 
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
For the Icing
Instructions
Notes
