Yummmm ~ Hummingbird Cake

As promised on Easter, but a little later than I anticipated…..we have the Hummingbird Cake.

This was originally posted at Mennonite Girls Can Cook by Anneliese, a contributor to the site.  If you only want to see the page with the cake posting, click here.  I didn’t take photos while preparing the cake, just the finished product.

Cake Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¾ cup vegetable oil +1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups white or brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups mashed bananas
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
1 cup unsweetened coconut

Frosting:
12 oz cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
¾ cup butter, room temp
4 cups confectioners sugar (approx)
Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add sugar , beating until right consistency for spreading. Can be refrigerated for several days. bring to room temp before using.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. (rack mid level) Grease two 9-by-2 inch round cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Grease paper (if using wax paper) and sides of pan, then dust with flour, tapping out any excess. Set aside.
2. In med bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla well, stir in oil until combined. Beat until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy.
4. Add bananas, pineapple, coconut and nuts, stirring until combined. Add flour mixture, blending well.
5. Divide batter between two pans. Bake until golden brown and cake tests done, 30 – 40 minutes.
6. Transfer pans to wire rack and let cool 10-15 min. Run a knife along edge of cakes. Invert onto racks. Remove paper and cool completely. (Assemble cake or freeze for another day)
7. With serrated knife, trim and discard rounded top off one layer. Place layer on serving platter. Spread top with ¼ inch of frosting. Top with untrimmed layer. Frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with pineapple flowers.

They also have directions (and photos) for the pineapple flowers:

Dried Pineapple Flowers

Preheat oven to 225 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice off top and bottom of pineapple. While still standing it up, peel off sections, cutting in a downward motion. Using a small melon baler, remove eyes.
Slice pineapple into very thin slices and place on baking sheets. The thinner you cut the slices, the faster they will dry and the brighter the color will be. Bake until tops look dried, about 30-40 minutes. Flip slices (at this time I cut some indentations into the sides so that the petals would be more exaggerated) and bake until completely dried. I used convection bake which has a fan on it, and that worked well. Bake slices a bit longer if needed – – you want them dry. Cool on wire rack. You can make these ahead and store them in a muffin tray – slip into plastic bag and refrigerated up to three days.

My finished product wasn’t quite as fancy as the one posted on their site, but not too shabby eh?  I omitted the nuts from our cake…..too many in attendance on Sunday didn’t care for them.  The cake is delicious and was a big hit!   🙂