Hummingbird Cake Recipe
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This Hummingbird Cake recipe is a delicious Southern cake favorite. It’s made with bananas, pineapple, pecans, and a decadent cream cheese frosting. It’s a moist, flavorful heirloom cake recipe you’ll love!
Hummingbird cake is a rich, flavor-packed homemade cake that’s incredibly moist and delicious. It has ripe bananas, pineapple, and roasted pecans and is frosted with a rich, silky Cream Cheese Frosting. It is a true classic Southern cake!
Hummingbird Cake is an old-fashioned made-from-scratch cake recipe that my family has loved for a long time. My grandmother made it for special occasions, Sunday suppers, and family gatherings. It was a treat when she made it all those years ago, and it is still a loved cake when I make it today.
How to Make Hummingbird Cake
Here’s what you’ll need and how to make this much-loved cake.
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
- 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 – You use BOTH 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 spiciness to the fruity, nutty cake.
- Eggs – Use room temperature eggs as they incorporate the best into the cake batter.
- Vegetable oil – Results in a moist, tender cake. You can substitute with melted coconut oil, avocado oil, or even melted and cooled butter.
- Vanilla extract – I use my homemade vanilla extract for its rich flavor, but you can use any quality vanilla extract from the store if you wish.
- Bananas – Use fresh, ripe bananas as directed. They add richness and moisture to the cake.
- Crushed pineapple – Use the juice from the canned crushed pineapple. The pineapple adds so much fresh flavor and moistness to the cake.
- Roasted pecans – The roasted pecans add so much texture and flavor to the cake. Don’t skip roasting them! (However, if you have someone with a nut allergy, you can omit them.)
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. You may want to slice it into small portions as this cake is as 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.
Storage Tips
To store. Store this cake in the refrigerator since it contains fruit and is topped with cream cheese frosting. It will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
To freeze. Wrap unfrosted cake layers or the frosted cake very well and then place in an airtight freezer container. You can freeze for up to three months. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator when you plan to serve it.
Are you looking for more delicious cake recipes? Here are some other fabulous homemade cakes you may want to try!
More Favorite Cake Recipes
Here’s the Hummingbird Cake recipe my family has used for years. It differs slightly from Mrs. Wiggins’ original, but I love the changes. I hope you love it, too!
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 (3.9 g) ground cinnamon
- 3 large (150 g) eggs
- 1 cup (198 g) vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons (9.4 g) vanilla extract
- 1 (8-ounce) can (249 g) crushed pineapple,, undrained
- 3 (454 g) bananas, ripe, mashed (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup (114 g) roasted pecans, finely chopped
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare three 9-inch cake pans by brushing with homemade cake goop, 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.
My mother made a cake called Dr. Bird Cake over 60 yrs ago. It was just. About the same. Delicious. My kids woul have her bake Dr. Bird as there birthday cake. We loved it.
As a biologist, I can guess why is called Hummingbird Cake. In zoos or aviaries, plates of bananas, pineapples, and orange slices are set out especially for the hummingbirds. They love it!
Im not much on cream cheese frosting. Is there another one you would recommend. This sounds so good and would love to try it.
You could use a buttercream instead or even a heritage frosting if you don’t care for cream cheese frosting.
Yes nice recipe I bakes cakes an pies and all ways thinking of more tasty recipes and. I liked the cakes that I see here because that’s from the old school made freshly from scratcn no box cake mix the real ingredients made homemade baking please keep up the good work making baking a showing delicious cakes an please email me some recipes my name is man God’s man thinks peace out bless ya
I have a similar recipe it’s called banana passion cake by Anne Bell, I will be making your recipe as it looks delicious, I love making cakes so any excuse to make an excellent cake is welcome.
Hi Robyn, I’m Rachel from Malaysia. Thanks for the wonderful recipe! Can I please clarify, undrained pineapple means I must use all the syrup in the can?
Thanks a lot!
Yes
For my first hummingbird cake, I made this recently, exactly as directed, and it was perfect. I bought a third pan to make it happen. I also made roasted pecans per your recipe: so many firsts. This cake is not only delicious, but beautiful—a statement cake! I iced it with your cream cheese frosting. There might have been some leftover frosting that I stored in the fridge and ate with a spoon a few days later.
Hi Karen! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! You are so right, the presentation is just as amazing as the flavor, isn’t it? It is one of my favorites for that very reason!
Robyn, I am making this cake for my mother-in-law for her birthday. She loves any cake with pineapple & coconut. I immediately thought of this cake recipe because I made it for Easter and got rave reviews but there isn’t any coconut. I was wondering if I could also add coconut flakes to this recipe? Any advice?
Thanks,
Katrina
Absolutely! I think it would be a wonderful addition! You could also add coconut to the frosting. Yum!
This cake was absolutely amazing! So glad I tried it- as a New Yorker, I had no idea what a Hummingbird cake was but it was a total hit… and if you’re trying to impress people this one really does the job 🙂 Only thing I’d disagree with is if you’re not a regular baker, this took me wayyyyy longer than the estimated time (I actually don’t want to admit how long). Regardless, it was totally worth it. Will absolutely make again!
Excellent recipe! Everyone loved it. Will use again.
I’m so glad you all loved it! xo