Last weekend, my grandma came to Calgary to celebrate her 85th birthday with my family, so naturally, I had to bake something. Her suggestion of a nut cake sent me searching the web for countless cake recipes until I stumbled upon a classic I had yet to try, hummingbird cake. Hummingbird cake has always piqued my inner baker, with its unique blend of banana, pineapple and pecan within the batter, and topped with my favourite icing, cream cheese buttercream (yuuum!). The only downside was that her visit was a mere two days away, and with school, work, and everything else, I simply did not have the time to make and ice a layer cake (the form hummingbird cake, and many other cakes, often come in). It was then that the thought struck me to instead make a bundt cake, an much quicker style of cake for two reasons: a) there are no multiple layers to stack and b) instead of frosting, you glaze a bundt cake (a glaze is a thinner version of icing which you simply pour over your cake,
and done!). So, when I found a recipe rated “5 stars” on yummly.com I was excited, to say the least.
It is easy to say that this cake did not disappoint. It met its five star rating with an elegant and understated ease, being wonderfully moist and tasty, no doubtedly thanks to the pineapple and (five!) bananas. However, I will say now that if you are not a fan of bananas in baking (ah la banana bread) you WILL NOT be pleased with this recipe, or type of cake for the matter. While the flavour of the pineapple and pecans do come through quite nicely, this cake has a distinctly banana-esk taste, which I thought, in combination with the pineapple, made for quite the tropical flavour. Still, if banana isn’t your thing, I’d suggest sticking to devil’s food cake or red velvet.
In the recipe it says to toast the pecans prior to making the cake, and I digress the importance of this in order to make the most delicious cake possible (I mean, what else could we possible want here). The toasted pecans have about 10 times more flavour and richness then their untoasted counterparts, and were much more evident within the batter then the latter. Saving some pecans for a topping on the cake is super cute, and made for an quick, easy way to make the cake presentable and professional looking.
Honestly, my only complaint with this recipe is the glaze, which is by no means bad, but in comparison to the cake it definitely could have been better and in no way “knocked my socks off.” Next time I make this cake, I’m finding a different glaze recipe to try, which will hopefully be a little bit richer and have the “oomph” this one is missing.
Overall, the cake was a phenomenal success, and I will definitely store this recipe in my bundt collection. It was a hit with my grandmother and went over well with the rest of my family (although my mom said it wasn’t her favourite- but she’s a bit of a banana baking hater), and a friend who tried it asked me to bring her a second piece before commenting that “Lauren should bake for me every day.” So bring a humming good time to your table, with hummingbird bundt cake!