The Hummingbird Cake was widely featured back in the late 1970’s and has recently regained popularity.
Since I was just a wee one back in the late 70’s I was not familiar with this cake but upon researching it I discovered that it’s really not that different from a traditional carrot cake!
So naturally when I set out to recreate this recipe for Hummingbird Cake
I used my carrot cake recipe as a starting point with a few tweaks to make it authentically Hummingbird, with pineapple, pecans and an array of spices!
The Hummingbird Cake is of Jamaican decent and was known as the Dr. Bird Cake
An appropriate nickname owed to the Red-billed Streamertail hummingbird native to the island.
It is said that the cakes sweetness is enough to attract hummingbirds just as they would be attracted to nectar.
CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MIX THIS CAKE
Notes for Success and Substitutions
I’ve lightened up this recipe by replacing some of the oil with applesauce, if you cannot get it or don’t want to buy it you can simply add the oil back in at the same amount as listed for the applesauce
If you are using fresh flowers for decor like I did be sure to dip the end stems into white chocolate as a buffer from getting anything unwanted from unedible flowers into the cake, or simply use edible flowers to avoid causing any harm to anyone eating the cake.
This recipe makes 3- 7″ Cake Layers but you can also divide the batter between 2-8″ cake pans for a 2 layer cake instead
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
- Vegetable Oil ½ cup (118ml)
- Applesauce ½ cup (113g)
- All Purpose Flour 1¾ cup (220g)
- Baking Powder 1 teaspoon (4g)
- Baking Soda 1 teaspoon (4g)
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Ground Cinnamon 1¼ teaspoon
- Nutmeg ½ teaspoon
- Brown Sugar ½ cup (105g)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cup (100g)
- Ripe Banana 1½ large or equivalent to 1cup
- Crushed Pineapple Drained 1 cup
- Vanilla Extract 1½ teaspoons (7ml)
- Orange Zest from ½ large orange approx 1½ teaspoon
- Toasted Pecans 1¼ cup
- 1 Recipe 2-2-2 Cream Cheese Icing
Instructions
- Prepare your cake pans with grease & parchment paper lining
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- In a large bowl combine the sugars with the oil, vanilla extract, mashed banana and applesauce, whisk smooth
- Add the orange zest
- Then sift together all of the dry ingredients directly into the bowl and whisk smooth
- Add the drained pineapple and the nuts then mix smooth
- Pour batter into your prepared cake pans and bake immediately at 350°F in a preheated oven for approximately 35-40 minutes depending on the size of your pans. Or until the cakes are springy to the touch when you gently press the centers
- Cool cakes in the pans until you can safely touch them with your fingers & then flip out onto a cooling rack to cool completely
- Prepare the Cream Cheese Icing and then assemble cake as shown in the video
Notes
Hummingbird cake can be left at room temperature for up to 1 day but because it is so soft it would do better refrigerated for up to 1 week
Thank you Gretchen. This cake turned our beautifully. It’s so tropical and tasty and I can’t wait to share it with friends. I’m loving your vegan bakery!
thank you for the feedback! Much appreciated!
Hi Gretchen,
Can I use aquafaba? Just wonder if it will produce a lighter cake
Hi Angela, I know the photos are not the best on this cake, but hopefully you can see that this cake is already light & very moist.
Adding aquafaba to cake recipes does not always mean=lighter cakes, on the contrary many recipes where people sub in AF could result in heavy gummy cakes almost raw cakes.
Especially since I have already added applesauce to replace some of the oil in the original recipe, aquafaba would throw the balance off
I would not recommend to make any substitutions here, and if you notice there is not even an egg replacer required for this recipe
Really lovely cake! Like you said sweet but not too sweet 🙂 I am just wondering the difference in cream cheese icing from your carrot cake recipe, for example that one has optional buttercream added and different mixing process. Thanks 🙂
Yes thanks! I prefer this new mixing method because I find that the vegan cream cheese is really touchy to over-mixing. And the buttercream addition is just optional. I do it sometimes, sometimes I don’t
Can I make this with cake flour ? I have recipe I use but wanted to try this since you are amazing
Thanks! Yes you can, however in a recipe like this (high liquid content) I like to use at least a portion of AP flour since it will absorb more liquids than cake flour.
Fantantic recipe. I made the cake on Sunday. Froze the layers, thawed them out Thanksgiving morning and frost it 1 hour before dinner. It was a hit for the meat eaters and the be vegans. I got requests for the recipe. I will definitely save this recipe soni can make over and over again. Thank you for this recipe and the tip of using vinegar to make the frosting.
Wow! I made this recipe into cupcakes today and it was divine! Looks of great feedback by all! I couldn’t find vegan cream cheese though so I used a different icing recipe ?
Hie instead of applesauce what else we can use..??
Oil, the applesauce was a replacement for (the original amount) of oil. I just wanted to lighten it up a bit!
Hi Gretchen, this cake looks absolutely amazing! I am planning on making this for my sister’s birthday this weekend! I do have a question regarding the oil and applesauce in this recipe. If I choose to use just oil and no applesauce, how much in cups or ml will that be equivalent to?
Thank you so much!
HI! Yes you can replace the applesauce with the same amount of oil!
I’m saving this recipe in ‘favourites’. This cake is delicious. I’m a big carrot cake fan but I’d say I like this even more. I followed the recipe and it worked perfectly. I froze the cakes for a couple days before preparing for Easter.
Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Gretchen! Thank you for the amazing recipe but can I know the metric for 1 cup of bananas and pineapple, please. Appreciate your help.
Yes sorry about that 1 cup of banana is usually approx 2 bananas (mashed) which is approx 200g
1 cup of pineapple will weigh about the same 180-200g
Turned out beautifully light and browned and fluffy and was a hit, though universally thought of as delicious and slightly too sweet from the party for both the cake and frosting, even though I cut sugar for the frosting, but followed this recipe as is. Will cut sugar next time.