This classic scratch Hummingbird Cake recipe has it all- banana, crushed pineapple, pecans, and a hint of cinnamon for a dessert that is sure to earn a place in your file of favorite recipes.
I LOVE cake recipes that incorporate fruit for an added boost of flavor, texture, and moistness.
This delicious cake is perfect for celebrating special occasions from birthdays to summer gatherings or just because. It has a moist crumb with a hint of banana flavor, cinnamon, and crushed pineapple.
Today’s cake has been our go-to Hummingbird Cake recipe for years, and it is based on a classic Hummingbird Cake recipe that first appeared in the Southern Living Magazine in the 70’s.
There are many similar versions for this favorite southern layer cake floating around but they all share the same wonderful flavors of banana, pineapple, cinnamon and chopped pecans.
These are fairly dense cake layers because of the fantastic list of ingredients- it reminds me in some ways of our carrot cake. There’s a lot of flavor in this classic southern dessert and every bite is magical!
Where Did The Name “Hummingbird Cake” Come From?
Hummingbird Cake is thought to have first emerged in Jamaica in the ’60s, (note the tropical flavor of pineapple & banana in the recipe)!
Although unconfirmed, a popular theory for how this flavorful, moist cake got it’s unusual name is that it’s sweetness attracts the hummingbirds! Sounds like a pretty good explanation to me. I say that we go with it.
How to Make Hummingbird Cake
Unlike most of our cake recipes, there’s no need to drag out the stand mixer for this one! You’ll be doing a little stirring for a change.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8-inch round pans. I also like to add a circle of parchment paper to the bottom of each pan.
- First, in a large mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon and whisk to blend.
- Next, add the room temperature eggs and vegetable oil, stirring with a spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the vanilla, pineapple, chopped pecans, and mashed ripened bananas and stir until incorporated. That’s all there is to it!
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and divide batter between the three prepared 8-inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees f for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached .
- After baking, we like to cool the cake layers on a cooling rack for about 5-10 minutes while still in their pans. You can then flip them out. Allow the layers to cool completely before frosting, or, you can freeze the layers while still warm as we explain below.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Every good Hummingbird Cake should be dressed in the most delicious Cream Cheese Frosting- Pipeable Recipe and as far as I’m concerned, you can never have too much!
We find this Cream Cheese Frosting recipe to be every bit as smooth and creamy as our other popular Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting, but it holds up to piping even better, and we love the consistency.
Cream cheese frostings couldn’t be easier to make– it is just a matter of combining softened butter and cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and flavorings! But don’t let the simplicity fool you- Cream Cheese Frosting is SO addictive! I would eat the whole batch if I could get away with it! ;0)
Assembling the Hummingbird Cake
- Place the first layer on your cake stand or cake platter. Spread with cream cheese frosting. Follow with the second layer and repeat.
- Top with the final cake layer and crumb coat (apply thin coat of frosting). I decorated my hummingbird cake with lots of piping around the sides of the cake using a star tip 21 but decorate however you like! If at any time your cream cheese frosting seems too soft, chill it for several minutes to thicken up the consistency.
- Also, if your cake layers are shifting or sliding as you frost the cake, pop it in the freezer for about 15 minutes or so to firm things up and then continue.
Tip for Extra Moist Cakes
Whenever time allows, we like to double wrap the individual layers in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer while still warm. This adds another level of moisture to the cake!
You can freeze for just a few hours if you are in a hurry, overnight, or up to 3 months. **However, if freezing for longer than one week, you’ll want to also wrap the layers with aluminum foil in addition to the plastic wrap.
Before assembling the cake layers, thaw while still wrapped so that the condensation will form on the plastic wrap rather than the cake layers.
I think that stirring a hefty bowl of cake batter counts as a mini-workout, don’t you? Reward yourself with a big ol’ slice of this deliciousness.
We hope that you love this Hummingbird cake recipe as much as we do! It has become a trusted southern classic, right up there with Italian Cream Cake , Carrot Cake, homemade Red Velvet Cake!
Enjoy!
Hummingbird Cake
With flavors of banana, pineapple, pecans, and cinnamon, this amazing Hummingbird Cake recipe is sure to become an instant favorite!
Ingredients
For the Hummingbird Cake
- 3 cups (363g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (3g) ground cinnamon
- 3 large eggs-room temperature, lightly beaten
- 1 cup (215g) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (6g) vanilla extract
- 1 can (8 ounce) (227g) crushed pineapple, undrained
- 1 cup (100g) chopped pecans
- 1 3/4 cup (392g) mashed ripe bananas (4 large)
For the PIpeable Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (226g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave)
- 3 (8 ounces) (226g) packages full fat cream cheese, (total 678g) cut into 1 inch pieces and softened.....do not use reduced fat cream cheese or cream in tub containers (do not soften in microwave)
- 3 cups (343g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Hummingbird Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. (We like to line with parchment paper also.)
- Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to blend. Add eggs and oil, stirring with a spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat the mixture. Add the vanilla, pineapple, pecans, bananas and stir until combined.
- Spoon batter into three 8 inch greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Cool in pans 10 minutes on cooling rack and remove from pans.
- Makes 6 cups of batter.
For the Pipeable Cream Cheese Frosting
- Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.
- Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on Medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (a bit longer if using a hand mixer). Scrape the bowl mid way through. Do not over beat.
- Makes 6 cups
- Use immediately or refrigerate. If beaten too long it my become too soft. If this happens, just refrigerate a short time and let it firm up.
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Looks and sounds delicious! :) I love Hummingbird cake.
Thank you MsGF! xoxo It’s a good one, you should try it! (after working your gluten-free magic) ;0)
how did you pipe the side of this one
Hi Michaela, this piping is a great quick option that I often do–I demonstrate something very similar around the sides in this wedding dress cake video (only instead of a small star tip, I used a star tip 21 for my hummingbird cake.) :
https://www.mycakeschool.com/blog/wedding-buttercream-decorating-tutorial/
Can I do cupcakes with this? Im worried they will not be as moist?
Looks delish!!!can I use this recipe in cup cakes?
Thank you
Hi Jamie and Sheryl, I have not made cupcakes with the recipe but I think it would be fine to do so.
Can you leave out the banana? I really want to make this cake but don’t like Banana’s Thanks
Hi Marilyn- Since the recipe calls for such a large amount of bananas, I think it would be difficult to substitute with something else. That aside, hummingbird cake is known for having a very prominent banana flavor. I would go with another recipe in our Recipes section–we have several with fruit or spices, including caramel apple, maple, carrot, and pumpkin which would all be great for fall. Good luck!
Hi Melissa, I made this recipe this past weekend and followed the directions to a tee. I baked at 350 for 25 minutes. For some reason the cake turned out really dry. Any ideas about what went wrong?? Love the frosting recipe !!!
Hi Carol, I am sorry your cake was dry. Did you use the gram weight of flour? If not, the flour should have been lightly spooned into the measuring cup and then leveled off. If the measuring cup is dipped into the flour and then leveled off, the flour will be somewhat packed into the cup giving more flour than the recipe calls for. With the oil, pineapple and 4 bananas in the recipe it should not be dry. I’m hoping the flour is the answer to help you. What do your think?
Your recipe call for 1 can of crushed pineapple un-drained. and most of the other recipes I’ve read call for drained. Please clarify. Thanks
Hi Paty- That is correct, we do not drain the crushed pineapple. I hope that you enjoy the recipe!
Just made the cake for a church event tomorrow. Can’t wait to try it!
Wonderful, so happy you made the recipe!!
Hi, do you think this cake would withstand being covered with fondant after being covered with white chocolate ganache? Thanks!
Hi Eleonora, I have not covered this cake in fondant, but I know it is fairly dense even with the pineapple and bananas. So, since you are covering with white chocolate ganache, I think you will be fine using fondant to cover the cake.
Thanks so much for your reply Bebe! I have tried a couple of your recipes and they are fantastic…looking forward to making this one. Big hello from Australia!
My scratch cakes always come out wrong but I made this one yesterday and it was perfect!!!! Thank you My Cake School! I will be Joining on payday!!
I’m so happy to hear all went well, Paige! xo
hello, pls can I leave pecan out of this recipe or what can I use as substitute. love ur recipes….
Hi Esther, yes, you can leave out the pecans. You could substitute chopped walnuts if you like but if you need it to be nut free just leave them out.
OMG – This is a MONSTER cake. The cake was too HUGE using 3 x 8″ pans. It had stability issues and I had to try and stabilize it with skewers thru the top – which didn’t really work – and not attractive. Part of that is because the Cream Cheese icing recipe (double recipe really – from your site) called for so much icing. It bulged and slid everywhere: a visual disaster. The taste is great – but a 2 layer cake or a 3 layer x 10+” cake would be better. The recipe is just too much batter for the recommended pans. I should have known better when I took them out of the oven.
I am not a novice at this. I am a Culinary school grad and have been cooking/baking for 40 years. *Next time I am just cutting the recipe in half and making a normal size 2 layer cake.
I made cupcakes using this recipe last night. It worked beautifully. I used your pipable cream cheese recipe as you suggested. I did fluff it up a bit by mixing on high. It was delicate and soft and created a wonderful balance to the heavier cupcakes. I got rave reviews from the event I made these for. I could have made them look nicer but I was in a huge hurry and was even holding each cupcake over the AC vent to cool it down to frost. Ha ha ha! I got 29 cupcakes out of this recipe and had about a cup and a half of frosting to spare.
Hi Terry, I don’t know what made your cake layers so large.
Hi Kathy, Your cupcakes look divine! Thanks so much for your review of the recipe andI’m happy everyone liked your cupcakes!!
I usually measure my dry ingredients and as I add them I put thru a sifter. Is this something i can do here?
Hi Teresa, You could do that but with most of our recipes I suggest measuring out the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, whisk at least 30 seconds to distribute the baking powder/baking soda throughout. I did not have that instruction on this recipe, but I just added it. Here is a link on the subject of whisking vs sifting. You might find it interesting.
http://thecakeblog.com/2014/08/sifting-for-a-better-cake.html
So….I made this cake for my bday and it was gonne in 20 minutes, and there were only 8 of us! This cake is AWESOME!!!!!!!! Paired with the cream cheese filling…..beyond awesome! It’s rich and flavorful and moist! Most requested cake in my household. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Nina! I’m so happy to hear it! Thanks so much for your feedback! xoxo
I made this cake yesterday and it is by far the best cake I have ever made. I love carrot cake and spice cake. This hummingbird cake was better than both of those times a hundred. Very moist and such an abundance of flavor.
That’s music to our ears, so happy that you enjoyed it Amy! Thanks for your feedback! xo
This cake is phenomenal. It is so good and moist that I am making a 2nd one within a week. My husband allowed the kids to get a slice, then he immediately took the cake tray into the bedroom and hid it. Kudos!
Thanks so much for your feedback! Haha, love that your husband loved it so much that he hid it away ;0) Now you have me craving hummingbird cake! xo
What piping tips you use. The swirl is nice on the cake
Hi Suzie, you can get this effect with a star tip 21.
Love your site, I am making the lemon cake, is so good and I can wait to give it a try; also the next one, one of my husband’s favorites, hummingbird cake, he is from the south this is the reason, why, again thank you !!!!!
Hi Febe, Thank you, I hope you will enjoy the cakes.
Hello, Melissa, your recipe of Hummingbird cake is so fabulous with the help of this I surely willing to try this at my own. I am so glad that you share so many recipes of your loving cakes with us. Such a good person you are with a kind heart again thanks to you.
Thank you so much for posting this! I am wanting to make cupcakes with this recipe. Would I need to change anything? I see someone else has already done this but I don’t understand what mixing on high to fluff it up means exactly.
I love your butter pecan cake too by the way!
Hi Candie, Bake the cupcakes at 350 for around 18 minutes, keep an eye on them. They will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. As for your questions on the comment about mixing frosting on high — be careful mixing cream cheese on high. This will make the cream cheese frosting too soft. If that should happen, just refrigerate for a short while, maybe 15 minutes and it will firm up again. I hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Can i use 9 inch round cake pans? I’d like to try this soon.
Hi Yvette, Yes, this recipe can be baked in two 9 inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees. Nine inch pans can hold 5 cups of batter and you will have 3 cups per pan so check at 20 minutes. I am not sure of the bake time. I hope you will enjoy the recipe.