Sweet, moist, and packed with crunchy tidbits in every bite, this Old-Fashioned Hummingbird Cake is an epic treat you’ll fall in love with. This delicious sweet treat has the perfect balance of warm spices, tropical flavors, delicate sweetness, and a nice bite from the nuts, making it great for all those occasions when you really want to go all out.
When it comes to comfort food, I almost always turn to my favorite old-fashioned banana cake, but on occasions when I want to enjoy a light sweet treat, I whip up some apple pecan bread or a simple banana bread.
This homemade Hummingbird cake brings the best of them both together, and the result is a decadent cake with flavors that are unlike anything you’ve tasted.
The cake is super easy to put together too, and is a Southern classic you absolutely need to try your hands at.
Why You’ll Love This Old Fashioned Hummingbird Cake Recipe
- Tastes amazing: The Hummingbird cake has a fantastic play of different flavors that complement each other beautifully.
- Lots of textures: It’s soft, moist, spongy, and crunchy all at the same time. You’ll love how different it is from your regular sweet treats.
- Tropical: It’s also a great way to enjoy some tropical flavors during the warmer months of the year.
- Perfect for a crowd: The cake is perfect to make and serve when you’re hosting a party or a get-together, and want to make an impression.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- Crushed pineapple in juice: For the tangy, tropical deliciousness, you’ll need a fair amount of crushed pineapples.
- Eggs: Eggs lend structure and richness to the cake. Make sure they’re at room temperature before you use them for the recipe.
- Bananas: Ripe mashed bananas are another hero ingredient here. They’ll lend the cake a natural sweetness and some moisture too.
- Vegetable oil: Feel free to use your regular canola oil or any other neutral-flavored vegetable oil of your choice.
- Leavening agents: I used a mix of baking powder and baking soda to help the cake rise and to make it nice and spongy.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract adds a ton of sweet aroma to the cake.
- Flour: Just your classic all-purpose flour should do just well for this recipe.
- Sugar: This one’s not just to add sweetness to the cake, but also to draw in water and keep the cake nice and moist.
- Pecans: I used some lightly toasted pecans to add to the cake mixture for the crunchy element.
- Ground cinnamon: A dash of ground cinnamon adds to the flavor and deliciousness of the cake.
For the Frosting
- Butter: I used unsalted butter here, but you can also choose to use salted butter if that’s what you prefer. Let it get to room temperature before you use it for the recipe.
- Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar helps sweeten the frosting and also adds to the stability of the cream cheese frosting.
- Cream cheese: Use good quality, full-fat cream cheese for the recipe. Use cold, refrigerated cheese for best results.
- Nuts: To top the cake, I used a mix of pecans and walnuts, roughly chopped.
- Vanilla extract: I also added a few drops of vanilla extract to flavor the frosting.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Frosting swap: If you don’t have cream cheese, you can use a simple whipped cream frosting or Swiss meringue frosting instead.
- Nut swap: Pecans are the hero ingredient here and lend the cake that Southern flavor, but you can choose to swap them for another nut of your choice if you want to.
- Citrusy flavor: For an extra bit of bright flavor and citrusy deliciousness, you can also add a pinch of orange zest into the cake batter- it’s what my grandma always did!
How to Make Old Fashioned Hummingbird Cake
Got everything ready? Before you get going, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get your baking pan ready. Grease and flour the 9 x 13-inch cake pan and line it with some greased parchment paper.
Step 1: Prepare pineapple juice. Separate the pineapple juice and pieces.
Step 2: Reduce. Cook the juice in a saucepan over medium heat to reduce it.
Step 3: Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in bowl.
Step 4: Prepare the wet mixture. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Add in the oil, mashed bananas, pineapple juice, pineapple pieces, vanilla, and pecans.
Step 5: Prepare cake batter. Combine the wet and dry mixture until you get a smooth batter.
Step 6: Bake the cake. Pour into a cake pan and bake until dark golden brown on the top.
Step 7: Prepare the frosting. Combine butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and cream cheese in a bowl and whisk until you get stiff peaks.
Step 8: Remove the cake from the pan. Flip the cooled cake over onto a plate or platter. My grandma always used to sprinkle a bit of granulated sugar on the platter before placing the cake.
Step 9: Frost the cake. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake, top with crushed pecans and walnuts, and serve.
⭐️ Hint: Make sure you refrigerate the cake for at least 1 hour for best results.
If you love recipes like this, you may also enjoy this Grandma’s Old Fashioned Fruit Salad, Cast Iron Peach Cobbler, My Grandma's Apple Crumble, Strawberry Scones or our Better Than Sex Cake (Slow Cooker) recipe.
Storage Directions
- Storing: Store leftover Hummingbird cake for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Remember that since the cake is frosted with cream cheese, it always needs to be refrigerated.
- Make Ahead: You can also choose to make the cake in advance if you want to. Simply prepare the cake and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. You can also choose to frost the cake, refrigerate it overnight, and then serve it the next day.
- Freezing: You can also freeze the cake either in sections or individual slices. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil. Store in the freezer for up to two months.
Serving Suggestions
This old-fashioned spice cake recipe is perfect for when you’re hosting a party.
I love making it a day in advance when I have a little get-together planned, and pairing them with my all-time favorite slow cooker turkey wings, my crowd-pleaser chicken hash brown casserole, and an Ambrosia custard to finish it all up!
Recipe Tips
- Mix well: The key to getting the perfect moist and fluffy texture is to make sure everything is incorporated well into the mixture and there are no lumps whatsoever.
- Use full-fat cream cheese: To get the frosting to the perfect consistency, use full-fat cream cheese. Low-fat cream cheese can have a higher water content and can cause the frosting to get runny.
- Use the whisk: When making cream cheese, use the whisk attachment as opposed to the paddle one to get the perfect soft texture.
- Use fresh leavening agents: Good quality leavening agents will ensure that your cake is perfectly fluffy, and not dense and dry.
Recipe FAQs
While toasting the nuts is optional, I would highly recommend it as it enhances the flavors of the nuts and makes them more crunchy.
While the richness of the cream cheese frosting is what makes this cake shine, you can also choose to opt for a simple vanilla buttercream if you want to keep things simple and easy.
You can! Just make sure you chop up the pineapple finely and pulse some of it in a food processor to make the concentrated pineapple syrup.
More Old Fashioned Cakes and Desserts
Grandma's Hummingbird Cake Video
Have a look at our video below! I hope you will be glad you did! My son is a carpenter and we thought his hands looked better with gloves on since he assures me there is no such thing as a hammer class! ? Apparently he will always hit his fingers sometimes!
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Grandma's Hummingbird Cake
Equipment
- fine mesh strainer
- Hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cans (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups large bananas very ripe, peeled and mashed with fork, usually 4-5 bananas
- 1 ½ cups pecans toasted and chopped
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Frosting
- 20 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 5 cups confectioners' or powdered sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 20 ounces cream cheese, chilled and cut into 20 equal pieces
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts chopped
- orange rind (optional)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch cake pan, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pan.
- Drain pineapple in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing to remove juice.
- Pour juice into small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to ⅓ cup, about 5 minutes; set aside.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in bowl.
- Whisk sugar and eggs together in separate large bowl. Once combined, whisk in oil.
- Stir in bananas, pecans, vanilla, drained pineapple, and reduced pineapple juice.
- Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with rubber spatula. Bake until dark golden brown on top and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.
- Allow cake to cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan, discarding parchment, allow to cool completely on rack, about 2 hours.
Frosting
- Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, or hand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together on low speed until smooth. Continue to mix for 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed.
- Increase speed to medium-low, add cream cheese 1 piece at a time, and mix until smooth.. Continue to mix for 2 minutes.
- Place cooled cake on plate or platter. My grandma always used to sprinkle a bit or granulated sugar on platter before placing cake.
- Spread 2 cups frosting evenly over top, right to edge of cake and down the sides. Smooth frosting as best you can.
- Sprinkle top of cake with pecans or walnuts. My grandma used to put a little orange rind but it's not necessary.
- Refrigerate cake for at least 1 hour before serving.
Video
Notes
- Mix well: The key to getting the perfect moist and fluffy texture is to make sure everything is incorporated well into the mixture and there are no lumps whatsoever.
- Use full-fat cream cheese: To get the frosting to the perfect consistency, use full-fat cream cheese. Low-fat cream cheese can have a higher water content and can cause the frosting to get runny.
- Use the whisk: When making cream cheese, use the whisk attachment as opposed to the paddle one to get the perfect soft texture.
- Use fresh leavening agents: Good quality leavening agents will ensure that your cake is perfectly fluffy, and not dense and dry.
Nutrition
This post was originally published April 2017. It has been updated with new images and content.
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