Hummingbird Cake

This week, with our anniversary as a good excuse, I tested out the Hummingbird Cake from Southern Living as part of The Southern Cake Series.

I have to say, it was the best not chocolate cake I've ever eaten.

And I basically only eat chocolate cake.

The original recipe calls for 3 layers, but my cake dome only fits 2 and I historically have issues with 3 layers. 

So we got a few cupcakes out of it. 

I did make the mistake of baking the cupcakes with the cakes and not really timing them, they were a tad bit dry. I would have baked them separately had it not been after 9PM already, and everyone in this house knows that 8PM is basically 12AM in my world. 

In the event you go the 2 layer route prepare yourself for a bunch of leftover frosting, no one has complained about the leftover frosting though. Who in their right mind would complain about a bag of homemade cream cheese frosting in the fridge?

Hummingbird Cake

adapted from Southern Living 

serves 12 ( I got about 18 servings out of it)

Ingredients::

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

8 oz can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups chopped bananas

shortening for cake pans

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients. Add eggs and oil, stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and pecans. Spoon batter into 3 (greased with shortening) 9 inch cake pans or 2-9 inch cake pans an 6 cups in a muffin tin. Bake cake pans for 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick can be inserted and removed clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing and cooling further. 

At this point I like to wrap mine well in cling film (while they are still warm) and place them in the freezer. Then I removed the cling film and frost them the next day, I find it keeps the crumb down and I typically don't have to do a crumb coat. 

To frost your cake place a small dollop of frosting in the center of the plate and place the first layer on. Top the bottom layer with a cup of frosting (more if you are only doing 2 layers), place subsequent layers on repeating with a cup of frosting. Frost cake with remaining frosting. If you're making cup cakes as well I promise there will be plenty of frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of butter, softened

2 16 oz packages of powdered sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Gradually add sugar, on a low speed, until blended. Stir in vanilla. Increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes until fluffy.