Hummingbird Cake

I was scanning through my library of cookbooks early this evening and found a bookmark on the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf, that I had long placed on the page with this recipe.  Somehow, I had totally forgotten about it.  This time round, the calling to bake this was so strong, and further prompted by the ripened batch of bananas sitting on my countertop.  So I dropped everything, shooed Little Missy to bed (which was easier said than done) and set out to put this together.

This cake has got a strange name but I guarantee you no hummingbird or birds of any sort was harmed during its production.  There are several schools of thought as to where the name of the cake came from. One is that the cake is so sweet it could attract hummingbirds; two is that the cake is so good, people hum with delight while eating it; three is that the cake originated from Jamaica where the national bird is a hummingbird.  No matter which story, this is a delicious cake, much like a carrot cake but it has bananas and pineapple in it instead of carrots.

You will need:

Cake:
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas, (the riper the better)
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus a little extra for decoration
2 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned pineapple, chopped
2/3 cup pecans (or walnuts), chopped, plus extra for decorating

Cream Cheese Icing:
1 cup icing sugar
85 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g cream cheese, cold
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preparation:

To prepare the cake:
Grease and line three 20cm round tins. I only did 2 layers.

Preheat oven to 170 deg C.

Beat the caster sugar, eggs, sunflower oil, bananas and cinnamon until well incorporated (don’t worry if it looks a slightly split).

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add this slowly to the egg mixture, followed by the vanilla, and fold until well mixed.

Stir in the pineapple and nuts by hand.  Divide batter between the pans, smooth the tops and bake for 20-25 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Let cake cool slightly in the pans before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the icing:
Beat the icing sugar and butter until well mixed. Add the cream cheese and lemon juice all in one go and beat until light and fluffy. Be careful not to overbeat or it will become runny.

To ice the cake:
When the cake layers are cold, put one on a cake stand, and spread 1/2 of the icing over it.  Place the second layer on, spread with icing over the top and sides.  Decorate with nuts and a light dusting of cinnamon, if desired.