Hummingbird Cake
The best Hummingbird Cake! It’s a tender, flavorful cake brimming with fresh pineapple, bananas, pecans, and spices and finished with luscious cream cheese frosting and coconut! The perfect cake for Easter or any other special occasion. I think of this cake as banana cake meets the tropics, in that it is loaded with bananas, laced with fresh pineapple and covered in sweet, toasted coconut. It will remind you a lot of banana bread, but with a bonus of decadent cream cheese frosting of course. There are so many delicious flavors and perfect textures in this cake.
The cake has a nice tender thanks to the sugar and bananas and it has a nice moist crumb thanks to the vegetable oil, it’s dotted with juicy bits of pineapple and crunchy toasted pecans, and it’s finished with a creamy, lightly tangy frosting and finished with crisp bits of toasted coconut (or chewy coconut if you like it un-toasted). It’s an old fashioned style cake that will likely remind you of home. Made from scratch and sure to please!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (198g) finely chopped fresh pineapple*
- 2 1/2 cups (354g) all-purpose flour, divided (scoop and level to measure)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light-brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup (235ml) vegetable oil or canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (366g) mashed overripe bananas
- 1 cup (100g) pecans, toasted and finely chopped, plus more whole or chopped pecans for decorating if desired
Frosting and topping
- 12 oz. cream cheese, nearly at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, nearly at room temperature
- 4 cups (480g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups (95g) sweetened shredded coconut, toasted or untoasted