Sweetness of bananas, juiciness of pineapples and luscious crunchiness of roasted pecans - all this delicious flavours come together in a beautiful and rich cake that was titled after a hummingbird. Some people say it was due to the level of sweetness of the original recipe - the taste reminded those who tried the dessert the succulent flower nectar. I don't know if it's true or not but I like this poetic version :)

I wanted to make Hummingbird cake for a while now. I'd say for a couple of years even! It all started when I was living in London. The Hummingbird bakery, which specialises in American sweet treats, was one of the most popular places to get your sugar fix, so back in the day I was visiting it quite often. I must admit that before that sunny autumn day in Notting Hill where I first tried a special Hummingbird Cupcake at the H' Bakery I had no idea that such combination of flavours even existed. Now (after a little bit of googling:)) I know that the recipe was born in the Caribbean in the late 60s. Some Jamaican bakers got inspiration for the cake in exotic fruits - pineapple and bananas - that were in abundance on the island. Later, the recipe apparently travelled to the States, where it has become very popular as well.



The best thing about Hummingbird cake, apart from its magical comforting richness, is the fact that it super easy to make! One-layer-cake takes about 25 to 30 minutes to bake, buttercream will be ready in 5 min with a help of a hand mixer, and decoration probably will take another 10 min, depending on the level of your ambitiousness and creativity :) Moreover, the cake is totally buildable in terms of the party size - if you are expecting many guests - just bake couple more layers and triple the amount of cream for decoration - not only you will be able to feed all your friends and loved ones but also to impress them with your extraordinary baking skills.



On a side note, as a big fan of banana bread I've been in the situations when the cravings are high but the bananas are not ripe. A rational decision, obviously, would be to put your baking on hold and wait for those yellow troublemakers to get old. However, how can one be rational and wise when we are talking about cakes, right? :) So, for the impatient ones there is a trick to ripen bananas in minutes: all you have to do is to put them in the preheated to 350 degrees oven and wait for about 10-20 minutes. The key indicator that bananas are ready is the fact the skin has turned ultra black. After you remove bananas from the oven, let them cool down a bit and throw in the mix!

Also, please, do share your impressions in the comments down below. I'll be happy to answer to any of your questions. So enough talking - and let's proceed to the recipe itself. Happy baking!

The Hummingbird cake: The recipe and directions 

Makes one 9 inch (23 cm) cake
For the butter:

• ½ cup (50 gr) chopped pecans
  
• 1 ½ cup (200 gr) all-purpose flour
  
• ¾ cup or 1 cup (150-200gr) granulated sugar
  
• ½ tsp baking soda
  
• ½ tsp baking powder
  
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
  
• a pinch of salt
  
• 1 large egg
  
• ¼ cup (roughly 90 ml) canola oil (or any vegetable oil that doesn't have a distinctive flavour)
  
• ¾ cup chopped pineapple (preferably fresh one)
  
• 3-4 medium sized ripe bananas