Hummingbird Cake

5 from 2 votes

This luscious Hummingbird Cake is dotted with bananas, pineapple, and pecans, then smothered in cream cheese frosting. It's scrumptious!

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Resting Time1

Total Time2

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Total Cost: ($15.67 recipe / $1.31 serving)

Servings: slices

Author: Monti Carlo

Ingredients

For the Cake

3/4 cup chopped pecans $3.44
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans $0.42
1 1/2 cups sugar $0.59
1 tsp salt $0.08
1 tsp baking soda $0.02
1 Tbsp baking powder $0.18
1 tsp ground cinnamon $0.10
2 large eggs, beaten $0.78
1 cup cooking oil $0.75
1 tsp vanilla extract $0.57
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained* $0.56
3 cups chopped bananas (about 6 medium bananas) $1.50

For the Frosting

12 oz cream cheese, softened $2.62
12 Tbsp salted butter, softened $1.87
3/4 tsp vanilla extract $0.43
1 pinch salt $0.01
6 cups powdered sugar $1.75

Instructions

Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 350°F. While the oven preheats, set a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and add the pecans in a thin layer. Toast the pecans for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the pecans toast, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add the eggs and cooking oil, stirring just until the wet ingredients moisten the dry ingredients and no more.
Add vanilla, crushed pineapple in its juices, chopped bananas, and toasted pecans. Stir the ingredients as little as possible while fully incorporating them.
Grease three 9-inch cake pans. Cover the bottoms with parchment paper, grease the parchment, and lightly dust the bottom and sides of the pans with flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool pans for 10 minutes before removing the cake layers. Cool layers for 1 hour.
While the cake bakes, in a very large bowl, add the cream cheese, salted butter, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar cup by cup, beating at low speed after each addition.
Once the sugar has been fully incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high, and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
Place the first cake layer on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread 1 cup of the frosting on top, starting from the center and working your way out. You want a layer of frosting that is ¼ inch deep.
Top with the second cake layer and spread with 1 cup of frosting, working from the center out.
Top with the third layer, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and lightly around the sides. Garnish the top with pecans, berries, or candied pineapple rings.*

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*An 8 ounce can contains ⅓ cup pineapple juice plus ½ cup crushed pineapple.

*This recipe is for a naked cake, IE the sides are barely frosted. If you'd like to frost the sides with a thicker layer, use 2 sticks of butter, 2 packages of cream cheese, 8 cups of powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

*To candy the pineapple rings cover them in a thick layer of brown sugar and fry them in 2 tablespoons of butter per ring over medium heat until golden.

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