As a devoted cake fanatic, it’s important to me that I have a respectable collection of amazing cake recipes, including some that I can whip up at the last minute, if needed, and that can hold their own without being super fanciful or frilly–just plain decadent, addictive, and, yes, impressive (who doesn’t want to impress, right?). Let me tell you, this cake is the ultimate dessert for pretty much any occasion, or any day at all, both in appearance and taste–it’s utterly divine. I find it especially comforting in the fall and winter, since it has such a rustic quality to it. Hummingbird Cake is a Southern dessert, which was said to have originated in Jamaica. After reading more about it on The Food Timeline website, I learned that the first print reference to it as “Hummingbird Cake” was in 1978, when a Mrs. L.H. Wiggins from Greensboro, North Carolina submitted the recipe to Southern Living Magazine. If you aren’t familiar with this cake, it is very similar to Carrot Cake, but well, has no carrots, but rather bananas, pineapple, cinnamon, and pecans, to name a few. Filled and frosted with rich-yet-fluffy Cream Cheese Icing, adults and kids alike seem to love it–it is truly a crowd-pleaser and one of my personal favourites. I have made it many times as a standard 3-layer cake, but decided that it was time to make it more visually interesting and create a “sky-high” version. Here’s how it went:
I decided to make the cake 8″ round, with many thin layers, resulting in a nice tall cake with serious impact. I started with my 3 x 8″ round pans, and baked one batch of the cake batter, filling each of them equally. Once those were baked and cooled, and removed from the pans, I made another batch and baked 3 more.
Oh, how I love this recipe. Not only is it so straightforward, but it also doesn’t require an electric mixer. Truth is, I adore my gorgeous KitchenAid mixers, and I use them for almost every single thing I make, but I have to admit I feel so much more authentic with a wooden spoon and mixing bowls. It’s almost as though stirring it all by hand yields a more heartfelt cake. And no, I’m not exactly sure what that means either, but it’s the truth.
Once all of my cakes were cooled on the racks, I put them in the fridge overnight, very tightly wrapped in saran and covered. If you don’t have that much time, you can even wrap them and put them in the freezer for an hour, or so. If you try to slice into a soft, room temperature cake, you’ll likely end up with a crumby mess, and no one likes a crumby mess. Oh, well, except my little Reese–she can smell stray cake crumbs straight from upstairs, but pretty much the rest of us like cakes to slice nice and clean. In the morning I started the torting process (otherwise known as slicing a cake into layers–in this case, slicing layers into more layers). Now, personally, I prefer to do this with my super-sharp MAC serrated knife, rather than with a Cake Leveler (a tool on the market). I’m not sure why I resist such cake-aides, but like I mentioned, I feel much more authentic doing things the old-fashioned way. In this case, each cake layer is being sliced one time, resulting in 2 layers per, well, layer. Confused yet?
So, here you can see how much fun building a sky-high cake is–it’s like creating the ultimate cake sandwich (minus all of those healthy ingredients). And in this photo, it still needed its top layer, making it super tall and lovely. I made this cake with a total of 9 layers (I used extra batter and made a loaf), but you can make it any height you want. I, personally, may never make a standard height cake ever again, truly! This just may get out of control in a hurry. Now, don’t panic if your layers aren’t perfect (once filled, iced, and sliced, it is pretty forgiving), but do your best to cut them evenly, since that makes for an especially pleasing inside-view. As Martha Stewart once said about torting a cake, “Just think straight while you are slicing,” (or something to that effect) and that’s exactly what I do. I also score the cake where I want my knife to be inserted, all the way around gently, so that when I do actually do the slicing, I have a guide. So, after I sliced the first cake into two layers and put a little bit of icing on an 8″ round thin cake board, I put them each cut side up and filled each layer with the Fluffy Cream Cheese Icing. When you decide your cake is tall enough, you take the cut side of the top layer and place it face down.
Here’s the cake crumb-coated, chilled, and ready for the final and decorative layer of icing. I make sure the cake is really cold (about an hour in the fridge) before I add the final layer of icing. To crumb-coat, you can use an offset palette knife for the top and a large regular palette knife for the sides. You can see that after this stage, it’s not meant to be beautiful or perfect, but soon enough! Really, you’re just sealing in the crumbs so that you can go ahead and put your pretty layer on.
So, I added a nice fluffy layer of the icing, and used the flat side of a palette knife to make a simple decorative pattern on the cake. I personally like keeping it simple, but you can do whatever your heart desires. This cake keeps best in the fridge, so when you’re ready to serve, you can place on a cake pedestal for extra height and drama, or even just a nice plate works too. For best results, you should refrigerate the finished cake overnight before slicing (oh, the anticipation!).
Best part: cutting into this cake. It’s always so fun to slice it open and see what’s going on in there! As predicted, it’s looking beyond delicious, and yep, sky-high. This cake was a huge hit at our Thanksgiving celebration, and, I have to say, it was ridiculously yummy. Mission accomplished! Okay, enough about my cake, here’s the recipe so you can get bakin’ and buildin’:
Sky-High Hummingbird Cake {click here for printable recipe}
Ingredients:
1 cup (110 grams) pecans, finely chopped
3 cups (390 grams) all-purpose flour
2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup safflower, sunflower, or corn oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounce can crushed pineapple (and the juice)
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) with rack in middle of oven. Prepare three 8″ round cake pans with butter/oil spray and a parchment circle on bottom of pan. Set aside.
In large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, combine lightly beaten eggs, vanilla, pecans, oil, bananas, and pineapple. Pour into dry ingredients and stir with wooden spoon until combined. Divide batter evenly into 3 prepared 8″ round pans. Bake until toothpick comes clean from centre of cake (about 30 minutes). Don’t open oven for first 20 minutes, then rotate pans, checking after 10 more minutes. Try not to overbake! Let cool on wire racks for 20 minutes, then inverting onto racks, removing parchment paper, until cool to the touch.
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Fluffy Cream Cheese Icing {click here for a printable recipe}
*Enough to frost and fill an 8″ round 6-layer cake
1/2 cup (1 stick, or 115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 x 8 ounce packages cream cheese, cut into cubes, cold
2 lbs (about 7 1/4 cups icing sugar (confectioners)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Method:
Using electric mixer, combine butter and icing sugar until just combined. Add cold cream cheese, all at once, and beat on medium speed for about 4 minutes. Turn up to high speed for another 1 minute. Should be fluffy. Don’t overbeat, or the icing will start to lose thickness.
*To fill and frost the sky-high 8″ version of this cake, you will likely need to increase the icing recipe by 50%
Adapted from Joy of Baking
Assembly Tips and Tricks:
-
Wrapped baked layers in saran and refrigerate for a few hours before torting them
-
Always put a large piece of wax or parchment paper under the cake board (with the cake on it) while you work on icing the cake, to keep your turntable or other surface clean
-
Use small offset palette knife to spread icing between layers, and large palette knife and bench scraper to smooth icing onto sides when crumb-coating
-
Refrigerate crumb-coated cake until icing is no longer sticky before applying top decorative icing layer
-
Refrigerate completed cake overnight, if possible, before slicing
Good luck & enjoy!
Now this is my kind of cake! It looks so delicious, with all those pecans and the cream cheese icing between the many layers!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the website, Rosie, and can’t wait to check in on your upcoming posts. Super big congratulations on your first day!!
You have such a great colletion of cake stands. Looking forward to hearing the stories behind your new and vintage finds, one day soon!
Lizxoxox
um…so i have to say…this cake is so utterly delicious it’s ridiculous…everyone must try!
The cake is just gorgeous :) You’ve inspired me! I think I’m going to make a sky-high Italian Cream cake for Thanksgiving!
Did you have to double the icing recipe for all those layers?
Thanks, Wendy! Yum, Italian Cream cake! I’ve never tried to make that, but it sounds divine. To make the sky-high version of an 8″ round cake, using the Fluffy Cream Cheese Icing, you will likely need to add an extra 1/2 recipe to this one. So, instead of 1/2 cup cream cheese, you’ll need 3/4. Instead of 2 packages cream cheese, you’ll need 3, and so on. Hope this helps!
This is fantastic! I was thinking of making this cake for a shower and I was wondering if taking out the pineapple and adding more banana would work? The mom is set on a banana only cake. Thanks so much for sharing everything! your site is gorgeous!!
Thanks, Ela! I really can’t see why adding more banana and eliminating the pineapple wouldn’t work, aside from the pineapple adding more moisture. It will still be incredibly delicious, I’m sure! Let me know how it goes!
Fantastic, thank you! I am going to try it today and then use the swiss meringue to ruffle the frosting! Fingers crossed!!
xoxo
Rosie! I made this without the pineapple, but added a 1/2 cup of orange juice to keep the moisture about the same. It was delish! And I ruffled it with SMB as per your instructions on the Ruffle Cake post. I’m In Heaven! Thank you!!
xoxo
~Ela
In the ingredients list, baking soda is mentioned, but in the method section, it is referred to as baking powder. Could you please clarify? Thanks. Beautiful website, by the way. I love your photos and your cakes!!
Hi Ann! Thanks so much for the kind words! Sorry about the error–it should be baking soda. I will make the correction! Good luck!
I am on the hunt for the best cream cheese frosting recipe – this looks great – just one question would this icing be suitable to pipe onto cupcakes?
Leanne, I love the consistency of this cream cheese frosting, and I have no problem piping it onto cupcakes. Just don’t overbeat or it will become runny. Good luck!
Thanks Rosie – I will give it a go very soon. I also just wanted to tell you that I LOVE your blog and your cakes are SOOOOOOOOOOOO AMAZING. Everytime I look at the recipes I just want to go and make them.
Can’t wait for your next cakes.
Hi Rosie,
I made this cake today for my friend’s birthday and we thoroughly enjoyed eating it while we are on night shift at work! I wasn’t able to get as many layers as you :( but it still looked and tasted great! Keep the great receipes coming!
Elyce.
This is a staple where I come from. But I have NEVER seen one this pretty!
Heard so much about it , but had never eaten this cake.. will have to try…
Made this cake on Friday night for my sisters 35th birthday on Saturday and it was a huge hit. Everyone was trying to figure out the ingredients! I used two 9 inch rounds and split each into two, for a total of 4 layers…I wasn’t brave enough to do your 9. I have already shared the recipe with two of the guests and can’t wait to make this recipe again.
PS. It’s sooooo good the next day right out of the fridge! Yum.
so pretty! as a north carolinian, I will say I’m so proud of my state for being the home of the first written documentation of this cake! yay! gorgeous cake rosie, as always
I tried this. Mine did not turn out as pretty as yours LOL, but your recipe is THE BOMB! This is one of my all time favorite cakes now.
This cake is great! I’m a chef and needed an easy dessert for my southern themed dinner. Everyone loved it and my boss even asked me to make one for his wife’s birthday. Thank you for the recipe, this one is definitely a keeper!
The only variations I made were making 3 9″ cakes and using fresh pineapple (pulsed in food processor).
Hi Rosie!
First of all, I love your blog – I’ve made a few recipes from here now and each one has received rave reviews from my willing taste testers!
I made this cake last night for my Dad’s birthday and it was a hit, everyone loved it! Only one question – for the cream cheese icing, the 2 lbs (or 7 1/4 cups) seemed like a lot, I couldn’t get it to blend with the butter really just given the amount of it but maybe I wasn’t being patient enough. I ended up cutting it down to closer to 2 cups after a few minutes of icing sugar flying everywhere and no sign of the butter in my mixer. Did I miss something?
Thanks so much for all your recipes and insights, and please, keep it up!
I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REALLY HELPFUL RECIPES AND TIPS.
I WANT TO MAKE THIS HUMMINGBIRD CAKE AS A LAYER FOR A WEDDING CAKE I AM MAKING. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS IF THE CAKE IS OK TO HOLD UP THE WEIGHT OF THE SUGARPASTE OR IS THIS CAKE TOO LIGHT AND SOFT TO BE COVERED WITH HEAVY SUGARPASTE?
SORRY I FORGOT TO SAY I WILL NOT DO THE SKY HIGH VERSION BUT ADAPT IT SO I HAVE 3 LAYERS OF CAKE (2 LAYERS FILLING) ONLY
Hi Rosie
I have been positively stalking your website for sometime and can only echo all of the other lovely comments! I do a mental yippee dance whenever I get the opportunity to make one of your creations for a party. They always come out so good and it never gets old basking in the admiration (even though technically it’s yours!).
This weekend I made the Sky High Hummingbird cake for my mother’s birthday. It came out beautifully but I did have some problems with the icing. I think my problem was with the butter and icing sugar combo before the cream cheese went in. Would you mind telling me what consistency you expect at this stage as mine was like powdery bread crumbs! The end result was a good icing but could never be described as fluffy.
Thank you so much for your wonderful site – I Pin it regularly! Got to get the word out.
Made this cake for my small civil wedding cocktail and everyone LOVED it!!! I decorated it with a hydrangea bouquet on top instead of the pecans. Have to admit that I had originally printed out the first recipe without the soda/powder correction so my first batch turned out totally flat and dense. I came back and re-read the whole post and noticed it was supposed to be soda so went ahead and made a whole new set of cakes. Everything turned out just like the photo!! Except I couldn’t get 9 layers but got 6 instead. The cream cheese frosting was perfect for the cake! Will definitely make this one again! Thanks Rosie!! :)
Thanks for giving me a little tip there, I always have to remeasure my cake tins and have been wondering why on earth I can’t retain such simple information but there seems to be another way! Thank you. :)
This cake sounds delicious! In fact, I’ll be making it for my son’s 3rd birthday! One question though…how far in advance can I make the cake (the interior)? I’ll be making it with 2 layers only though for transport reasons. Also, do I individually saran wrap each layer? You said to refrigerate them overnight if possible. I’m hoping to refrigerate them for 2 nights. Will that be okay? If so, then I can make it starting tomorrow! Thanks for any help!