Coconut Hummingbird Cake

For Easter, my sister decided to try out a new recipe and bake her first cake, Coconut Humming Bird Cake. It tastes a bit like banana bread. This cake gets its name because supposedly, each bite is so scrumptious, it makes you want to hum.

Hummingbird Cake makes 1-two tiered 9″ cake (taken from here)

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans *optional
• 1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 2-9″pans with shortening or line with parchment paper. In the bowl of a mixer, beat vegetable oil with sugar and vanilla for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well between each addition. Mix until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the mashed bananas, crushed pineapple and coconut. In another bowl, whisk together the flour with the baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined and divide the batter amongst the pans. Bake in the centre oven rack for 30-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched in the centre.

Cool cakes for 15 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Carefully invert pans to remove cakes and let cool completely on wire racks.

Cream Cheese Frosting (I only used a little less than half of this recipe)

• 2 cups (16 0z room temperature cream cheese
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 8 cups of powdered sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in vanilla followed by the sugar continuing to beat until smooth.

Place the first cake on your serving plate upside down and spread about 1/3rd of the cream cheese frosting over the top. Stack the second cake on top and frost top and sides with remaining frosting. Top with toasted coconut.

Delicious!