I made a cake every single day in my restaurant, and I think this Hummingbird Cake was the most requested. It has sweet pineapple, bananas, and cinnamon in a deliciously moist cake. I top it with a fluffy cream cheese icing and some lightly toasted pecans. The combination of flavors is amazing and the best part is that it all starts with a cake mix. Many of the cakes I made started with a cake mix. I have found over the years that baking from scratch is a ton of fun, but when you are also prepping to open a large restaurant kitchen grabbing a mix to start you out is a must. I promised myself that I wouldn’t stop making things from scratch which is why I also made my Italian Cream Cake a lot, but man-o-man, if you tasted this one, you would never know that it is a cake mix hack.
Hummingbird Cake
Course: Desserts10
servings20
minutes30
minutesIngredients
1 pack of Yellow Cake Mix
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup mashed bananas (approx. 2 ripe medium bananas)
½ cup of water
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
- For Cream Cheese Icing
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter (softened)
1 block cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup toasted pecan pieces (for garnish)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare two round cake pans by spraying them with cooking spray and lightly dusting them with flour.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the cake mix with 1 cup crushed pineapple with the juice, 1 cup of mashed bananas, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of oil, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. The mixture will be “lumpy” and a little thick.
- Evenly distribute the mixture in the two cake pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the center is slightly firm. Do not overcook.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.
- Loosen the cake from around the edges with a knife. Remove from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the icing: In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
- Add the 3 ½ cups of powdered sugar (½ cup at a time) and mix well.
- To toast the pecans, place the ½ cup in the bottom of a clean cake pan and bake them for 5 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Let the pecans cool and then put them on top of the cake.
Notes
- Once the cake is completely cool, place icing between the layers and ice the cake. Sometimes I ice the sides and sometimes I just place large amounts of the icing in the middle and on the top but it is always the same amount of icing :).
If you love to bake cakes, check out some of my other cakes, like the Damn Good Chocolate Cake that is scrumptious.
Also, if you are looking for other bloggers to follow, check out the cakes that Grand Baby Cakes has to offer!
Enjoy!
Maurie Kay
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