Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Hummingbird cake revisited

I posted a recipe for hummingbird cake nearly 2 years ago, and remember thinking that I would be making the cake again before too long. It was well received by Mr Bite and I loved it myself. Indeed, hummingbird cake (featuring banana and pineapple with a cream cheese-style icing) is one of my favourite cakes.


As is wont to happen, time passed and I did not make the cake again until now. In the 21 intervening months, much has changed and this time I made the cake to take to a mother/baby group I've been attending with Mini Bite since she was roughly 2 months old. The group has been a regular feature on our Wednesdays and I have valued the opportunity to sit with other mothers, be brought a cup of tea, and have Mini Bite play with novel toys for an hour or so.

Today was our last group, because next Wednesday will be my first day back at work after maternity leave. Mini Bite is no longer a 2 month old infant and today she spent most of the morning crawling around, or cruising on furniture with the holding-on-walk that will no doubt become a real walk all too soon (she is currently 10-1/2 months).



I offered to bring a cake today, because the kind volunteers who manage the sessions have been making me dairy free flapjacks and cookies in lieu of the regular cake that others eat each week. This hummingbird cake was what I decided to make.

I am posting the recipe again because I made a few tweaks (putting walnuts back in, after leaving them out last time, and adjusting the icing) and because it is a really lovely cake. It was well received this morning and I hope I will make it again without such a long gap now. As before, it uses just one bowl and bakes in only 30 minutes - perfect if trying to create a cake with a baby underfoot or if short on time for any other reason! I like this version slightly more than my 2015 equivalent, but there isn't much in it.

A note on the pictures - the straws in the cake were to hold up cling wrap and as I didn't get a photo of a cut slice, I am including one of my 2015 photos to show what the cake looks like inside.


Hummingbird cake
A slightly adapted version of my 2015 recipe
Makes 1 medium cake to serve 8 to 12

Author: Bite-sized thoughts


Ingredients
For the cake -
235g (1-3/4 cup) plain flour
25g (1/8 cup) coconut sugar
25g (1/8 cup) brown sugar
70g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla
1 large banana, mashed
125ml (1/2 cup) pineapple juice
110g (1/2 cup) crushed pineapple
65ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

For the icing (this makes a little more than you really need)
250g (2 cups) icing sugar
1-1/2 tbsp coconut yoghurt
1 tbsp non-dairy spread
30ml (2 tbsp) non-dairy yoghurt of choice
5ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
5ml (1 tsp) vanilla

Method
Preheat your oven to 180'C / 350'F and prepare a medium round cake tin.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder and salt). Add the wet ingredients (vanilla, banana, pineapple, oil) and stir through. Fold in the walnuts

Transfer the batter to your prepared tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

When the cake is cool, make the icing by beating all icing ingredients together with an electric beater. Spoon over the top of the cake.



What cake/s do you wish you made more often?

10 comments:

  1. Yum, hummingbird cake is always a winner. Best wishes for your first week back at work.

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  2. i have not made hummingbird cake in a long long while, over a decade ago I think. How sweet that the volunteers make you dairy free flapjacks, that is so considerate. As for what cakes I wish I made more often, well it would be for my husband if any - it would be lemon meringue, lemon citron or lemon cheesecake - anything to make him grin.

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    1. Mr Bite would join your husband with those lemon selections - he loves them ll too!

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  3. I wish I made hummingbird cake more often - I think I last made it when Sylvia was a baby so that is pretty infrequent and I am very fond of it also. I have the urge now. Good luck heading back to work.

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    1. Thanks Johanna - and you are most definitely overdue a hummingbird cake :-)

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  4. I've never tried a hummingbird cake before. This looks totally delicious! I love pineapple so this looks right up my alley. Maybe I can get someone to make this for me for my birthday in August, I'd love that!

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    1. I hope you can enlist a cake baker for the occasion!

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  5. I just love the name of hummingbird cake, and I bet the taste is equally as appealing. How nice to have volunteers that take the trouble to accomodate your veganism. Hope the return to work goes well.

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    Replies
    1. It was so kind of them. And thank you - so far, so good!

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