High Altitude Hummingbird Cake
A classic hummingbird cake made with bananas, pineapple and pecans, for a cake that's flavorful, moist and dense, frosted with pecan cream cheese buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with a Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 med/lg bananas)
- 20 oz canned crushed pineapple in juice (undrained)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
Buttercream
- 8 oz (1 block) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 8 oz (1 cup / 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup pecans, finely chopped, optional
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of three 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt, then whisk until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, mashed bananas, crushed pineapple with the juice, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients and the chopped pecans to the wet ingredients, and fold everything together just until moistened.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, covered with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for one minute on medium speed until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer on low, add the sugar mixture by spoonfuls until combined, then add the vanilla.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until thick and fluffy. Turn down the speed to "stir" and mix for several minutes to get rid of air bubbles.
- Fold in the chopped pecans.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Place one cake layer on a cake board and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers.
- Frost the cake all over with a very thin crumb coat of buttercream. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to set the crumb coat. Frost the cake all over with a final coat of buttercream, making it as swirly or smooth as you like.
- Before serving, decorate the cake with fresh flowers.
Notes
- Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for up to 3 days. The cake should be served at room temperature, but you should refrigerate it overnight to keep the cream cheese cool.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/