Hummingbird Cake

It may be a failing of my Southern upbringing but I've never had Hummingbird Cake. However, when a good friend asked for one for her birthday dinner, I went searching for a recipe to suit.

This old style cake has the flavors of pineapple, banana and pecans, with just a hint of coconut. The recipe I used came from Southern Living and, after I made a couple of changes, resulted in a moist cake that was not overly sweet - sort of a dessert banana bread.

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

adapted from Southern Living

For the cake:

1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 large)

1- 8 oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a bundt pan; set aside.  In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Next stir in the eggs, mashed bananas, pineapple, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Sprinkle chopped, toasted pecans into the bottom of the bundt pan, spoon the batter over the pecans. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. 

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on the wire rack. 

For the glaze, in a bowl combine the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon milk; mix with a hand mixer until smooth, adding an additional tablespoons of milk if needed. Immediately pour the glaze over the cooled cake, and sprinkle coconut over the top.