I got the Duck Dynasty cookbook as a gift, and whether it was meant as a joke or not, I really do love Southern food. So I decided I needed to make some of the tasty recipes in this book, starting with Hummingbird Cake.
I have always been intrigued by Hummingbird cake. As someone who grew up out West and then moved to the Northeast many years ago, it is not something I had ever had before. What is Hummingbird Cake, you ask? It is a very sweet cake made from an unusual combination of pineapple, bananas, pecans, and a touch of cinnamon, all topped with cream cheese icing. I wasn't sure if this hodgepodge of stuff would just be too many competing flavors, but it worked surprisingly well. The cake stays very moist and the flavors meld into a nice mix that is hard to pin down. Tasters would probably not be able to tell you what is in it until you told them. All in all, this is a good, easy-to-follow recipe if you like really sweet cakes in the Southern style.
Miss Kay's Hummingbird Cake
(Recipe from Duck Commander Kitchen by Kay Robertson)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line with parchment 9" cake pans - this makes two thick or three thin 9" layers, so choose accordingly.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups diced bananas
1 8oz can crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans (plus another cup for garnish if desired)
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla, beating by hand until well-mixed.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet by hand, giving it a good stir to make sure all clumps of flour have been mixed in. Then add the bananas, pineapple, and pecans, gently folding them in just until they are spread into the batter. Try not to overmix this.
Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Important note: My layers took 8-10 minutes longer because I made the two thick layers instead of the three thin layers the original recipe called for.
Cream Cheese Icing:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat all together with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the cake has completely cooled, frost the cake, then sprinkle with 1 cup chopped pecans for garnish (I skipped this step as you can see from my picture)
Enjoy!
