Surprisingly I have never had a slice of Hummingbird Cake when I have been out for Coffee and Cake. Mainly because what was on offer had dessicated coconut in it and I’m not a lover of coconut. Most recipes I looked at for Hummingbird Cake didn’t include coconut anyway, so I’ve put that down to a personal preference on behalf of the baker. However they all included some
fabulous tropical fruits, mango, passion fruit, banana, orange and pineapple.
So here is my take on Hummingbird cake. It’s big, but totally worth it especially as we have all Bank Holiday weekend to enjoy it!
Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
250g plain flour
250g caster sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 large eggs, beaten
200ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
50g chopped pecan nuts
2 ripe bananas
1 large ripe mango
2 passion fruit pulps
85g of tinned pineapple chunks
1 orange zest
little butter for greasing the tins
For the frosting:
180g full fat soft cheese (Philadelphia)
50g softened unsalted butter
400g sifted icing sugar
1 orange zest
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180c fan and grease and line three 20cm/8 inch cake tins.
In a large bowl sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon and then add the sugar.
In another bowl mash all of the fruit with the back of a fork and mix together. You want small pieces of fruit so I found it easier to mash the fruit pulp on a chopping board with a fork before adding it to the bowl.
If you peel the mango first, then cut it into small pieces and then mash it, the 
process is much easier.
Simply scoop out the insides of the passion fruit and the pineapple, cut up small as with the mango before you mash it.
Stir the mashed fruit, eggs, pecans and oil into the flour mix until everything is combined.
Divide the mixture evenly between the three tins and then bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
When the cakes have baked leave them in the tins to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to fully cool.
In the meantime you can be making the frosting.
Simply cream together with an electric hand mixer the butter and the soft cheese. Then stir in the orange zest and icing sugar until everything is combined together and smooth.
Spread the frosting evenly over the top of each of the three cakes and then stack one on top of the other.
There you have it a three tiered Hummingbird Cake. Truly tropical and very delicious.
