Hummingbird Celebration Cake

Posted on March 21, 2012 by

24 Comments

Since yesterday was the first day of spring, I felt it was a perfect time to bake up a celebration cake.  Instead of my go-to yellow or lemon cake I decided on a springtime favorite: hummingbird, the perfect combination of pecans, pineapple and bananas.  Really is there any better way to welcome spring than with a cake adorned in brightly colored confetti sprinkles?

Hummingbird Celebration Cake
1 1/2 (3 sticks) cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 large eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups over ripe mashed bananas
2 cups finely chopped pecans
1 or 2 (8-ounce) cans crushed pineapple, drained well
Confetti Sprinkles
One recipe Pecan Spice Cream Cheese Frosting (below)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) cake pans. * I used two nine inch cake pans and made cupcakes with the remaining batter.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla beating at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add this mixture to your butter mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Be sure to begin and end with the flour mixture. Gently stir in the banana, pineapple and pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 11 minutes, remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Once cooled spread the Pecan Spice Cream Cheese Frosting between layers, top and sides of the cake.
6. Add confetti sprinkles to the boarder of your cake to give it a pop of color for spring. 

Pecan Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
about 5 1/2 cups
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 – 1 cup finely chopped pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
7 cups powdered sugar

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter,  pecans, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.

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24 Comments on “Hummingbird Celebration Cake”

  2. I have never made hummingbird cake, but it sounds delish. I love pineapple…and pecans..and cream cheese. The combination of everything looks/sounds amazing! XO

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  6. I've never had this cake, but it looks absolutely fantastic. And it doesn't help that I'm currently sitting in spanish class STARVING.

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  17. This is so pretty. HUmmingbird is my favorite kind of cake, I absolutely love it. It has like magical properties I believe, you can make a sad person feel uplifted by serving a piece of it. I make mine with oil, but your version looks heavenly.

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