Hummingbird Cake

I must admit I was a bit skeptical when I first saw this recipe. But then I saw it pop up on so many other sites within a few weeks, I thought it has to be good. I enjoy baking immensely so whenever I come across a recipe that I can add to my repertoire, I jump at it. This is one of those recipes. It comes together well with a few simple ingredients that yield wonderfully tasty finished product. There are two recipes here, the cake and the frosting. If you have another cream cheese frosting, use it.

It is a ridiculously moist cake. That’s because of the pineapple, banana and oil in the recipe. No butter, but the oil makes up for that. Use a good quality oil and make sure it’s fresh and not been sitting on the shelf for 6 months. Smell it, it should smell clean not stale. Also, use a good quality can of crushed pineapple, I like Dole, I trust the brand. This adds to the sweetness of the cake.

I also used light cream cheese. I like using light cream cheese whenever I have a recipe that calls for cream cheese. When I make my cheese cakes, I always use a blend of regular and light cream cheese. I found the best blend to be 2 packages of light cream cheese to 1 package of regular cream cheese. It yields a lighter texture cheesecake that doesn’t leave you with a heavy feeling. That came about as a result of much experimentation with a number of cheesecakes over a number of years, so I hope you try it the next time you make cheesecake.

Most know I don’t like using icing sugar in my frostings. I usually make the Italian Meringue Buttercream for all my cakes. But every cream cheese recipe I’ve ever seen always calls for icing sugar, so not much of a choice other than to use it. The cloying sweetness that sometimes appears with the use of icing sugar can be cut by using a combination of good quality vanilla extract (the real stuff) and lemon extract. I used 2 x 9” round tins to yield cakes that I could cut in the middle and spread some of the cream cheese icing. There isn’t a need to, but I like doing this with any cake I bake, as it adds more flavor and additional moisture as well as some height to the cake. I like tall cakes! There’s an implied elegance and richness with a tall cake. Now all the recipes for this cake said cut a small slice as it is rich. Well it definitely is a rich cake, but a small slice, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea – oh, oh, oh – so good! As always – enjoy!

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon – good quality and fresh please
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple – I measured 8 oz with some juice
3 (about 2 cups) ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup roasted pecans, finely chopped – I didn’t add this due to nut allergies in the family, but it would be even more incredible with nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting – see below for recipe

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºf
Prepare two 9-inch round cake pans using a spray or buttering and lightly flouring
Cut a circle out of parchment paper and spray/butter it as well
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside
Cream together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas, and finely chopped pecans in another large bowl
Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined
Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes
Turn cakes onto a wire rack and allow them to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese frosting
When the cakes are cool, using a serrated knife cut the cakes in half horizontally – you should have 4 pieces of cake
Place one cake layer on the bottom, spread with ½ cup cream cheese frosting, place the top half of the same cake on top of the frosting
Frost the top layer and continue layering and frosting
Pour the remaining frosting on top of the cake and spread on the top and sides or just the top with some oozing onto the sides

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8-ounce) packages Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 cup Churn 84, softened
4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
3 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions
Whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer – hand held or stand alone
Add in butter and continue to whip until well blended, light and fluffy
Turn the mixer on low, and add confectioner’s sugar, ½ a cup at a time
After each cup has been incorporated, turn the mixer onto the highest speed setting and for about 10 seconds to lighten the frosting
Add in vanilla and lemon extracts and whip until well-blended, light and fluffy