Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Growing up, my mom and I used to visit this cute set of shops. The shops would always change, but what I look forward to the most was getting lunch at this great little soup/salad/sandwich place. It was a cafeteria-style place, and what I remember the most is the fantastic cakes that they had all along the food line. So many good things to drool over! They had a lot of different cakes, including a Hummingbird Cake, which I hadn’t heard of before. I don’t recall ever getting a dessert with lunch, but I sure remember looking at those cakes.

Well, I now live in the town where those shops are. When my husband and I first moved here, that lunch place was still thriving. They still had great looking desserts, too! They were selling a cookbook and we purchased it. I’m glad we did because that restaurant eventually struggled and finally closed. So I can no longer go there and dream about fantastic desserts, but I do have the cookbook to remind me of them.

This cake isn’t from that cookbook, but I remember their Hummingbird Cake. This is the cake in Bundt form, which travels so well. Think of it as a banana pecan pineapple cake, with cream cheese glaze. You are supposed to add the pecans to the cake pan and then pour the batter on top, but I mixed mine in to the batter and I like it that way. I served this for a birthday at work and it was great!

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 mashed ripe bananas
8 ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large Bundt pan.

In the heated oven or in a microwave, toast pecans until fragrant, stirring halfway through. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large mixer bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add eggs, bananas, pineapple, oil and vanilla; stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in pecans and spread the batter in the prepared pan. (Alternative, sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into the prepared pan and spoon the batter over the pecans.)

Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a long wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes and then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare glaze:  In a large mixer bowl stir cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk until well blended. Add additional milk, if required, to achieve drizzling consistency.  Immediately drizzle glaze over cooled cake, and sprinkle with the remaining pecans.

Recipe from Ryan Bakes