I presented my dad will our small library of baking books
and said ‘pick one’ for me to make for Father’s Day. He chose this recipe from
a beautiful book ‘The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook’ full of delicious recipes
from the popular Hummingbird Bakery down Portobello road. This cake is really
moist from the fruit and just all around lovely. Dad certainly liked it anyway.
Ingredients
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
270g bananas, mashed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla extract
100g tinned pineapple, finely chopped
100g pecan nuts (although I used walnuts because I like them better)
Cream Cheese Frosting
600g icing sugar
100g unsalted butter, at room
temp
250g cream cheese, cold
Preheat the oven to 170⁰C/gas mark 3. Line 3 20-cm
cake tins with baking parchment. In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar,
eggs, oil, banana and cinnamon using an electric whisk.
Add the bicarbonate of soda, salt and vanilla extract and
combine. Add the flour in small batches, beating until all the ingredients are
well incorporated.
Finely chop the walnuts and pineapple. Add them to the
mixture and stir in using a spatula.
Split the mixture between the three tins, using the spatula
to even out the surface. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden
brown and springy in the middle. Cool cakes on a wire rack.
While the cakes are cooling make the cream cheese frosting.
In a large bowl beat the icing sugar and butter together until mixed. Add all
the cream cheese and beat for at least 5 minutes until fluffy.
When the cakes are cooled place the bottom layer on a cake
stand and spread a quarter of the icing on top. Repeat this with the second
layer. Place the final layer on top and cover the cake completely with the
remaining icing. Decorate the top with some walnuts halves and a sprinkling of
cinnamon.
Warning: Consuming
one slice of Hummingbird Cake may lead to a second slice…
P.S. I’m off on a
jolly around Eastern Europe tomorrow for 3 weeks so this will be the last
recipe for a while! I’m hoping I’ll get to eat lots of goodies though,
especially in Vienna, so look forward to some travelling inspired recipes : )