Hummingbird Cake

Hummingbird Cake with cream cheese frosting is a moist and delicious homemade layer cake full of tropical banana, pineapple and coconut flavors!

Is there anything better than a homemade cake? I say no… especially when it tastes like the tropics! Scroll down to see tons of detailed step-by-step photos on how to make this recipe. It’s one of my favorite treats to make for Easter along with Hot Cross Buns.

Why you will love this recipe:

• Tropical flavors: This cake combines banana, pineapple, and even the flavor of coconut to create the most delicious, moist, old fashioned cake.
• Super moist: Hummingbird Cake is so moist is because you use just as much fruit as you do flour. Also, because oil is used instead of butter, the cake is light and fluffy.
• Easy to make: Whether you’re an expert baker or a beginner, this recipe is easy to make and difficult to mess up. Since the cream cheese frosting can be made while the cake is baking in the oven, the entire recipe doesn’t take much time.

Why is it called a Hummingbird Cake?

One of my food heroes, Jamie Oliver, shared the information:

The giveaway to the Hummingbird cake’s birthplace, however, is in the key ingredients – bananas and pineapple. Hopefully you’re already thinking of the Caribbean, and it’s thought to have been invented in Jamaica, probably in the late ‘60s.

Originally, it was called the “Doctor bird cake”, a nickname for a Jamaican variety of hummingbird called the Red-billed Streamertail. The name came from the way the bird’s long beak probes flowers, like a doctor inspecting a patient. So what does that have to do with a pineapple and banana cake? Some say the cake was named after the bird because it was sweet enough to attract hummingbirds (who eat only nectar), while others say the yellow streaks of banana was reminiscent of the bird’s plumage. Either way, the Doctor bird was about to take flight.

If you have heard of a hummingbird cake, it’s most likely because it was originally printed in Southern Living magazine and has become a favorite dessert of the south.

Ingredients needed:

Exact quantities are listed in the recipe card below, but here is a summary.

• Cake: Flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, banana, pineapple, eggs, coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, pecans
• Frosting: Cream cheese, butter, vanilla, confectioners sugar

How to make Hummingbird Cake:

Detailed step by step instructions are listed in the recipe card below, but here is a summary.

Step 1: Toast the pecans

Place the raw pecans on a baking sheet and toast in the oven. When they’re cool, chop them into small pieces.

Step 2: Mix the cake batter

1. Mix ingredients: Combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix in the toasted pecans.
2. Add to pans: Pour even amounts of the Hummingbird Cake batter into three prepared cake pans and bake in preheated oven.

Step 4: Make frosting

Whip together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in vanilla. Incorporate the powdered sugar until the frosting is completely mixed. The frosting should be light and fluffy.

Step 5: Decorate cake

Once the cake has cooled, everything can be assembled. Spread the frosting in between the two cake layers, reserving enough to coat the top and sides of the cake. Top with remaining chopped pecans and some pumpkin pie spice.

Baking tips for best results:

• Substitutions: Melted butter or lite olive oil can be used in place of the melted coconut oil. Fresh pineapple can be used in place of canned. Cinnamon can be used in place of pumpkin pie spice. Walnuts make a great substitution for pecans, or the nuts can be omitted altogether.
• Storage: To remain moist, cake should be covered or stored in air tight container. Hummingbird cake can be left out at room temperature for a short period of time, but any leftovers should be kept in the refrigerator.
• Sheet pan: This recipe is meant to make a large layered cake using three 9-inch round cake pans. If you’d like to bake it as a sheet cake, you will need a deep 9×13-inch pan or something even longer and cooking times may be extended.

If you’ve made this or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out. I love hearing from my readers!

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This recipe was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated with helpful information, ingredient and process photos, as well as recipe tips. Don’t worry – the recipe hasn’t changed!

Kitchen tools needed:

• Baking sheet for toasting the pecans
• Whisk for combining dry and wet ingredients
• Measuring spoons
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment for mixing the cake batter and frosting
• 9-inch cake pans
• Cooling rack for when cakes come out of the oven