When my lovely friends Joe and Kylie invited me to their place for a casual BBQ on Sunday afternoon, as always, I offered to bring some form of sweet treat. I was told that approximately sixteen people were going to attend, so I knew I had to make a huge cake or slice of sorts in order to feed the masses. The weather on Sunday was glorious and to maximise my time outside in the sun and minimise my time inside the kitchen, I chose to bake one of my most requested and loved recipes – hummingbird cake.
I love this recipe as it appeals to my inner lazy baker since it’s a one-bowl recipe, but also, it seems to please the fussiest of people! I’ve had people who claim to hate most of the ingredients in this cake (namely banana), but in my experience with this cake, they always seem to manage to lick their plates clean! Even my friend Joe exclaimed “You know Linda, I really hate nuts in cake, but damn, this is awesome!”
So, if you’re a lazy baker like me and have to cater for a large group, give this cake a go and trust me when I say, anyone and everyone will love it!
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
- 375 g self-raising flour sifted
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 375 g brown sugar
- 75 g desiccated coconut
- 100 g walnuts finely chopped
- 660 g crushed pineapple well drained
- 3 very ripe bananas mashed
- 3 eggs
- 300 ml vegetable oil
- Cream Cheese Icing
- 100 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 50 g unsalted butter softened
- 225 g icing sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or seeds from a vanilla bean.
Instructions
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or seeds from a vanilla bean.
- Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a large slab pan (approximately 30cm x 20cm x 5cm).
- In a large bowl, combine flour and cinnamon. Add the sugar, coconut, walnuts, pineapple, banana, eggs and oil and give it a really good mix.
- Spread the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed in the middle (if the cake ends up browning too quickly during cooking, cover with foil).
- Allow the cake to stand in the tin for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
- For the icing, combine the cream cheese, butter, icing and vanilla using a hand-held mixer or freestanding mixer. Beat until smooth. Spread on top of the cooled cake.
Don’t forget to PIN this Hummingbird Cake
