Hummingbird Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting

The short answer: hummingbird cake combines ripe banana, crushed pineapple and pecans in an oil-based cake with cream cheese frosting. Use three 9-inch round pans, bake at 350°F, and start checking the centers around 25 minutes. Cool completely before frosting and keep the finished cake refrigerated.

• Yield: about 12 to 16 slices from one three-layer cake
• Planning time: about 30 minutes of preparation, 25 to 30 minutes of baking, then about an hour or longer for cooling before assembly
• Equipment: three round pans, mixing bowl, sturdy spoon, cake tester, cooling racks and a mixer for the frosting

Prep time: 20 minCook time: 30 minTotal time: 1 hrServings: about 12 to 16 slicesTotal includes 10 min of resting, chilling or rising.

The cake proportions and three-pan method below follow the classic formula published by Once Upon a Chef, adapted from Southern Living. The directions and planning notes are written for this page; this is not a claim of an independent HomeBase kitchen test. Keep the specified pan arrangement rather than guessing a different pan's capacity or bake time.

Hummingbird cake ingredients

Use the pineapple can's stated net weight. An 8-ounce can is not an instruction to pour out one liquid cup of pineapple. Likewise, count bananas only as a shopping estimate: their sizes vary, so the measured chopped fruit controls the amount. Do not add extra pineapple juice to correct a batter that merely looks thick.

How to make hummingbird cake

1. Set a rack near the middle of the oven and heat it to 350°F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans, or use baking spray containing flour. Have the prepared pans ready before mixing.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk through the bottom so there are no separate pockets of soda or spice.
3. Add the lightly beaten eggs and oil. Stir with a sturdy spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the vanilla, undrained pineapple, chopped bananas and cooled pecans. Stop once no dry flour remains; fruit pieces should still be visible.
4. Share the batter evenly among the three pans and smooth the tops. A scale can help give the pans similar amounts, but it is not required. Leave space between pans for air circulation; do not force overlapping pans onto one crowded rack.
5. Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes, checking each layer rather than assuming they finish together. Insert a cake tester into the crumb near the center. It should come out clean, with no streak of raw batter, and the center should look set. If needed, continue baking in short intervals and check again.
6. Leave the layers in their pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then loosen and turn them out carefully. Let them cool completely on racks before assembly. A warm center can soften frosting even when the cake's surface feels cool.

How to tell when hummingbird cake is done

The clock tells you when to look, not when to remove every cake automatically. Pan material, oven accuracy and how evenly the batter was divided can change the finish time. Look at the center and check the crumb; a brown edge alone cannot establish that the middle has baked.

Kansas State University describes internal-temperature ranges for baked goods as suggestions and specifically says visual clues still matter. A general chart is not proof of one mandatory temperature for this fruit-filled recipe or for every alternative pan. There are no muffin, sheet-cake or two-pan conversion instructions here. If you need a different format, choose a recipe developed for that format rather than compressing this entire batch into smaller pans.

Frosting and assembling three layers

These frosting proportions follow the same cited three-layer recipe. Measure powdered sugar by weight if possible; cup measurements change with packing. This is a generous, sweet frosting batch intended for filling plus the top and sides, not the smaller frosting quantity for a single thin cake. If you want banana flavor without three layers, our banana sheet cake with cream cheese frosting needs one pan and a single 8-ounce batch.

Beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt until evenly blended. Add the sugar gradually at low speed so it stays in the bowl, then beat briefly until spreadable. If the frosting becomes too soft to hold a layer, refrigerate it before proceeding; extra beating is not a substitute for chilling.

Put one fully cooled layer on a platter. Spread about a cup of frosting over it, add the second layer and another cup, then place the final layer on top. Cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting. For more frosting technique, use the existing cream cheese frosting guide; that page remains the dedicated frosting resource. This cake also shares a fruit-and-nut character with carrot cake, while extra ripe bananas can go into banana bread. Planning a holiday table? Hummingbird cake fits right in with our Thanksgiving desserts and Christmas desserts.

How to store hummingbird cake and make it ahead

UF/IFAS advises refrigeration for baked goods with cream cheese frosting. Keep cream cheese refrigerated until you begin preparing the frosting; soften only what you need during preparation. Return the assembled cake to a refrigerator at 40°F or below.

Use the conservative general USDA leftover guidance: refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F, and use refrigerated leftovers within 3 to 4 days. That storage window is an application of general guidance, not a measured shelf-life study for this cake. Include preparation and serving time when planning how long the frosting spends outside refrigeration.

For a gathering, bake a day ahead, cool the layers completely, wrap and refrigerate them, then frost before serving. Clear refrigerator space for the assembled cake before you start. Slice only what the table needs and return the rest promptly; do not leave the whole cake out through a long afternoon. Keep a note of the baking date and the actual pan arrangement in your Family Recipe Binder, and add the bananas, pineapple, pecans and cream cheese to the Meal Planner & Grocery List. Those notes are more useful than carrying an unverified alternate-pan time into the next bake.

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