Hummingbird cake

[AshleyMel]

Looks awsome! I'll be right over!

I'ma waitin' and coffee's brewing!!!

 

[Jimklag]

The Hummingbird cake first appeared in the pages of Southern Living magazine in 1978 and was submitted by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina. The cake is an award winner, good any time of the year but I always seem to start wanting to fix one around Easter. There is something about the summery combination of bananas and pineapples that just feels right for an after Sunday dinner dessert out on the front porch with a glsss of sweet tea. There are many new variations available online of the classic recipe, the one I use sticks pretty close to the original (hope that will still qualify it as authentic - there was just too dang much oil) and I'll post the link down below. Having trouble with my tablet thingie and the pics! I just made this, this morning, so it is a work in process!

Do we know why it's called Hummingbird cake?

 

[AshleyMel]

Do we know why it's called Hummingbird cake?

Yes!

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.
In 1968, the Jamaican tourist board decided to try attracting tourists by sending out press kits to the US. In the packs were a few recipes from the island, including one for the Doctor bird cake. Over the next few years, similar recipes started to crop up in local papers and community cookbooks across the South under various different names, including the prophetic "Cake that doesn't last".
Most food historians agree the first printed recipe for Hummingbird cake was by one Mrs L H Wiggin. She supplied the recipe to Southern Living magazine in February 1978, but even before then there are countless references to the cake in county fair reports and baking competitions across southern America.


https://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/history-hummingbird-cake/

 

[alan polk]

My wife makes it but I can tell you (from watching and hearing her clang around) it takes a long time!! Sometimes she ambushes me and makes me help whisk the icing stuff while she slowly pours something into it. I know that in her recipe she uses pecans and cane syrup - very common ingredients down here in the Deep South. It's definitely delicious.

 

[JOHN42768]

Now I'm hungry again.

 

[donna]

Ashley

a great recipe and cake. My Aunt made this cake. It was always liked by the family.

 

[donna]

A Special Cook Award goes to Ashley Mel for her Hummingbird Cake. Congrats and thanks to Ashley for the recipe and pictures of her cake.

 

[AshleyMel]

Ashley

a great recipe and cake. My Aunt made this cake. It was always liked by the family.

A Special Cook Award goes to Ashley Mel for her Hummingbird Cake. Congrats and thanks to Ashley for the recipe and pictures of her cake.

Oh my! Thank you! It was so much fun to make! Super easy!
Should I tell on myself though???
I actually had to make another one! After all the fixin' and bakin' I did on this one all day, I went to put it in the fridge and disaster struck! The top layer slid off and fell to the back of the fridge! I sat on the floor and cried for 30 minutes! Hubby didn't know what to do! It was so tragic! He went with me back to the store for more pineapple and bananas and I made another one at 9 o'clock that night! My daughter came home from work and helped me finish make Hummingbird cake number two! I frosted the sides of the number two cake to prevent a disaster number two and the cake was just as beautiful. Easter dinner with our friends was very pleasant and of course the cake was very well liked! Whew! What a weekend it was!

Thank you for the special recognition! Very unexpected and I am always happy to contribute to the food forum!
Yay!

 

[donna]

Glad it worked out for you. You have fine Hubby and daughter. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[donna]

I thought bring this thread on Hummingbird Cake back up. With Chellers love of Hummingbirds, this could be a special cake to bake in her memory.

I hope this is alright to many of you. Thanks to Ashley for the recipe.

 

[MRB1863]

Looks delicious! ...but left out the hummingbirds....???

 

[Mrs. V]

This looks delish! I have my grandmothers cake pans, they have this cool bar on the bottom, that you use to get the layers out in one piece, everytime. (The bar whisks around the bottom of the pan, freeing the cake.

Hmm..I might have to make this cake sometime soon.

Thanks for the recipe!

 

[MaryDee]

With Chellers love of Hummingbirds, this could be a special cake to bake in her memory.

Thank you, @donna, I thought of that when I saw the title of this post! What a lovely idea!