Hummingbird Birthday Cake

As mentioned it was a birthday celebration weekend and here's the massive birthday cake for a really good friend of mine. She requested a hummingbird cake with dried pineapple flowers so here it is. I've not made this cake in a long time and it was nice to be reminded of the delicious flavours. It's a banana, pineapple and pecan cake covered in cream cheese frosting. We had a really big celebration lunch but everyone managed a hefty slice of cake (or two!)

We enjoyed the cake so much, I didn't take a picture of a slice or a cross section of the cake. You'll have to take my word for it that it was delicious. The layers rose beautifully and it was so soft and moist. The waitress commented on the texture of the cake as she was slicing into it as she expected it to be heavy and stodgy but was actually really light.

 

 making dried pineapple flowers. Slice pineapple thinly and dry in a low heat oven 

 I made a 3 layer cake 

 cake assembly 

 Slightly uneven frosting but it gets covered in roasted, chopped pecans

 delicious pineapple flower

For the cake
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
270g peeled bananas, mashed (approximately 3 large bananas)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra to decorate
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g pineapple, chopped into small pieces
100g roasted, chopped pecan nuts

For the frosting

500g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g cold cream cheese

To decorate

100g roasted, finely chopped pecan nuts

dried pineapple flowers

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Put the sugar, eggs, oil, banana and cinnamon in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
• Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until everything is well mixed.
• Stir in the chopped pineapple and pecan nuts by hand until evenly dispersed.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.
• Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar and butter together until it's well mixed.
• Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
• Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

Click here to see a step by step guide on how to make dried pineapple flowers