Hummingbird Cake

It’s my daughter’s birthday tomorrow and she has requested a Hummingbird cake. I love making hummingbird cakes!! The luscious ingredients make for such a moist delicious cake. I was at Greenland hospital today taking her for her eye check, and discovered a recipe for Hummingbird cake in the cookbook at the café while I waited for my coffee. What a coincidence. It is a cake that was created in Jamaica and named after their national bird. The addition of crushed pineapple “spans from early colonial times when pineapple was a symbol of hospitality for locals on the island of Jamaica. A gift given to guests to express gratitude and convey the warmest of welcomes.”

I liked the Jamaican proverb on the wall of the café, “WAN WAN COCO FUL BASKIT”

Translation: one coconut at a time fills the basket. (If you persevere, you will achieve success in the end.)

Well that was a nice way to start the day, considering it was a very early start, 8.15 appointment. So here goes, here’s the recipe which I have altered to add more flour and pineapple as their recipe was designed to make 6 large muffins and I needed a cake!

I was out of eggs and didn’t have any macadamia nuts so went down to the local market, (feeling not very well as it turns out so it took a bit of effort), and managed to come home with pecan nuts instead and $157 worth of groceries!! How does that happen!! Never mind, I managed to buy some amazing raspberries for the roulade I plan to make tomorrow, large juicy and only $4 punnet. 🙂Then I discovered that traditionally you use pecans or walnuts anyway, so all good.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup roasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
2 eggs
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup crushed pineapple in juice
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Icing:

50g butter softened
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon passionfruit pulp (optional for decoration)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease muffin tins or line a cake tin. Place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Stir in the macadamia nuts. (or pecans or walnuts!!)

Place the eggs in another bowl and beat lightly.

Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Add the pineapple including the juice, and mashed banana then combine with the dry ingredients. Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.