Hummingbird Cake is a delicious classic Southern cake recipe. Made with bananas, pineapple, and pecans and topped with a cream cheese frosting!
Are you looking for more delicious cake recipes? I think you’ll love my Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Best Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cake, and Best White Cake.
Hummingbird Cake is a favorite cake recipe of my family. My grandmother would make it for special occasions, especially around Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, or spring birthdays. It was always front and center at any family gatherings or church socials. Topped with delicious Cream Cheese Frosting and full of banana, pineapple, and roasted pecans, Hummingbird Cake is a Southern classic cake recipe.
Table of Contents
Hummingbird Cake Recipe
How to Make Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients for Hummingbird Cake
To make this favorite cake, you’ll need these ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – Use a light all-purpose flour. You can also substitute it with cake flour.
- Granulated sugar – I use granulated white or raw cane sugar. Use your favorite sugar replacement for baking.
- Baking soda and Baking powder – both are used in this cake recipe.
- Salt – I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. If you substitute with Morton’s Kosher salt, fine sea salt, or table salt, you will only need half the amount of the salt called for in the recipe.
- Ground cinnamon – adds a warm cozy flavor to the cake.
- Eggs – Use room temperature eggs as they incorporate the best into the cake batter.
- Vegetable oil – makes for a moist, tender cake. You can substitute with melted coconut oil, avocado oil, or even melted and cooled butter.
- Vanilla extract – Use your favorite store-bought pure vanilla extract or homemade.
- Bananas – Fresh bananas are mashed and incorporated into the cake batter. They add richness and moisture to the cake.
- Crushed pineapple – The pineapple adds so much fresh flavor to the cake.
- Roasted pecans – the toasted pecans add texture and flavor to the cake. However, I generally omit if serving where there could be a nut allergy or sensitivity.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.
- Mix Wet Ingredients. Cream the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas, and finely chopped roasted pecans in another large bowl.
- Stir. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.
- Bake. Then, divide the batter evenly between the three prepared cake pans and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Cool the cake layers. Remove from oven once done and cool in the cake pans for about 10 minutes. Then, turn the cakes onto a wire rack to allow the cakes to cool completely.
- Frost and serve. Once the cakes are completely cool, frost them with Cream Cheese Frosting. I usually make my frosting while my cake is in the oven. Then serve and enjoy!
Origins of Hummingbird Cake
As far as the original maker of the hummingbird cake, it was submitted to Southern Living magazine for the February 1978 issue by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina. Even though she provided her lovely recipe, she did not include the story behind it or its name. Some would say that is a loss, but I think Mrs. Wiggins did us a great favor by allowing our imaginations to conjure up stories as sweet as her delicious cake.
Be sure to add this cake recipe to your must-make list for your next get together. It is sure to delight as well as quickly disappear. Remember to cut the slices thinly as it is rich and as sweet as southern sweet tea.
Role of Oil in Cakes
Cakes using oil in the recipe tend to bake higher, stay moist and tender longer, and result in a cake with an even, open crumb and a coarser texture than those using butter.
How Long Does Hummingbird Cake Last?
I prefer to store this cake in the refrigerator since it contains fruit and is topped with cream cheese frosting. In the fridge, it will last up to a week.
Here’s the Hummingbird Cake recipe my family has used for years. It differs slightly from Mrs. Wiggins’ original, but I love the changes.
Hummingbird Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (396 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (1 1/2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon
- 3 large (3 large) eggs
- 1 cup (198 g) vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons (9 g) vanilla extract
- 1 (8-ounce) can (1 (8-ounce) can) crushed pineapple,, undrained
- 3 (3 whole) bananas, ripe, mashed (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup (99 g) roasted pecans, finely chopped
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cream Wet Ingredients. Cream together the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, pineapple, mashed bananas, and finely chopped pecans in another large bowl. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.
- Bake and cool. Evenly divide the batter between the three prepared pans and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Turn cakes onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
- Frost. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
- Store. Store in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap or a cake dome for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
From the Add a Pinch recipe archives. Originally published in 2011.
I’m wondering how these will do as cupcakes. It’s one of my favorite cake recipes
Amanda, you can make these as cupcakes. I would decrease the temperature to 325º F for the cupcakes.
About how many cupcakes would this recipe make?
Sam, this recipe will make about 36 cupcakes.
This cake was a huge hit with my family.
I’d like to make this cake but in a 13×9 cake pan. What temperature and how long do you think this cake would need to bake for
Jennie, I would bake this in a 13×9 pan at 350º F. for about 40 minutes.
My Grandpa turned 85 this week. I was searching for a cake recipe that ‘suited him’ and debated between black forest, peanut butter chocolate…but when I came across this recipe on pinterest I knew immediately it was the one!
My 4 and 2 year old helped me with everything and we surprised Papa with his cake.
It was delicious! Easy to follow recipe and came out great. We will definitely make this again!
Thanks, Moxie. I’m so happy this cake worked so well for you. Happy late birthday to your Grandpa.
I made this cake for dessert after lunch with a friend. This cake is easy to make, moist, flavorful and just plain delicious! Will definitely bake for another occasion.
Thanks, Karen. I’m so glad you liked the cake.
Quick question about this recipe. Is there anything else I can use instead of bananas? They trigger my migraines so I cannot eat them, but I still really want to make this cake!
I have not substituted the bananas with anything in this recipe, Faith, but someone commented that she replaced them with mangoes. Other substitutions you may try are applesauce but you can add only one cup of applesauce or the batter will be too thin, pureed pumpkin, avocado, and pureed sweet potato. Maybe someone else on here has tried one of these or another substitution and can tell you what they didl
Can I make your Hummingbird cake the night before and frost it the next day?
If so…where to keep it? Covering??
🙏🏻Thank you,
Julie
Julie, I would store the layers in the refrigerator once they have completely cooled. Wrap them securely in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container to make sure the layers don’t dry out in the refrigerator.
This was a favorite of my grandmother and she would rarely get to have one as we were very poor and she would save up all year just to make one. It is so delicious.
What a sweet memory of your grandmother, Mom Pat.
Can frozen ripe bananas be used? Thank you.