Bird Is The Word...

A flash of harmless lightning,

A mist of rainbow dyes,
The burnished sunbeams brightening
From flower to flower he flies.
-John Bannister Tabb

Hummingbirds were my favorite birds growing up. I can’t really speak for other people’s favorite birds when they were kids, or even if they had favorite birds when they were kids. If I had to guess, the top three favorite birds of children would be: penguins, flamingos, and bald eagles. (And probably Big Bird for those "trick question" type of kids.)

I was a special child and I grew up in a special place. With the rain forest as our back yard and playground and my parents making sure we were active and played outside, we saw a lot of nature as kids. Hummingbirds frequented our bird feeders. There was an old iguana that lived in our back yard. We named him Elvis. In 6th grade, we sat on our patio and watched a snake poke his head out of the bushes and grab a bird mid air. We sat and watched the snake slowly devour this little bird until the sun had gone down. (It takes them a long time.) And then I wrote a poem about it for English class. I’ve screamed at a tarantula that crossed my path and I’ve tried to drown a scorpion that crawled up the sink.

But Hummingbirds were my absolute favorite to watch on a regular basis. They would come up really quick to the feeder and in a second be gone. They zipped in and out of the backyard and if you’d have no idea which direction they went. They fly backwards and can be seen in some amazing colors. I have always been in awe of these teeny tiny creatures.

Yes, I’m a nerd.

And then we moved to Chicago and I didn’t see one for a very long time. The birds here are ok, but they’re not that exciting. To me, tropical birds will always be cooler. And then I saw one at the mall. Exciting, but definitely not as cool. (I mean really, how out of place is a Hummingbird by the food court. It’s just wrong.)

I guess the moral of the story is – I like Hummingbirds. They’re cool. So when one of my staff asked for a Hummingbird Cake for her birthday I was intrigued and excited. I had never heard of a Hummingbird Cake.

Would a Hummingbird cake require some crazy ingredient adding where I would have to stir it backwards?

Would I have to use a little bowl?

Would my new mixer burn out because I had to use the super fast speed for the entire recipe?

Would real flowers be incorporated?

What was I getting myself into?

Actually, as far as taking culinary risks, Hummingbird Cake is pretty low on the scale.

But having never heard of it and attempting to do some research I pulled out the big guns. One of my friends gave me The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook for Christmas and they have a Hummingbird Cake recipe! Success!

Hummingbird Cake Adapted from The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 cups mashed, bananas (about 5 regular sized ones)*
1 – 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained (it’s about 1 cup of pineapple)
½ cup crushed pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease, lightly flour, and line the bottoms with parchment paper of 2 – 9” round pans.
In a large bowl, sift together: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set these aside.
In another large bowl (or the bowl on my new Kitchenaid Mixer), beat the oil with the sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between eggs additions until they’re incorporated. Add the vanilla and mix. Add the bananas and pineapple and mix again. Add the dry ingredients in thirds, beating after each addition until smooth. Stir in the pecans.
Divide the batter into the two pans and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.
Wait for the cakes to cool before you frost them.

*The recipe calls for very ripe bananas, I used normal ones, they weren’t brown or spotty. They were a little difficult to mash, but I don’t like my bananas overly sweet so instinctively I can’t allow them to get super brown.

Cream Cheese Frosting (An updated version)
Ingredients:
1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese, cut into chunks
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
¾ tsp vanilla
1 ½ TBSP sour cream

Directions:
Using your mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until it’s smooth. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating together so it’s all incorporated before adding the next cup. Mix in the vanilla and sour cream.

(Don’t get me wrong, I make a mean cream cheese frosting, but adding the sour cream takes away some of the powdered sugar taste that coats your tongue and the roof of your mouth and makes it creamier and a little more subtle. It’s delicious. This recipe makes enough to frost a double layer cake with a little bit extra to enjoy on some graham crackers.)

The Hummingbird Cake was good. So good, I would make it again. Next time I might make three cake rounds instead of 2 because they were pretty thick and big layers. It’s texture didn’t resemble a light cake, it was a little dense, but super moist. It smelled and had the texture of very soft banana bread, but with a little bit more of a flavor profile than just plain old banana bread (thank you pineapple!).

I did quite a bit of research as to why they call it a Hummingbird Cake and while there is no definitive answer, it seems to be rooted in Southern tradition with a little bit of Jamaican background. It doesn’t matter where this cake came from because it was delicious.

As for the new mixer, he performed marvelously. I put the beater down into the bowl and I swear I got goose bumps I was so excited. I still have not found a suitable name for him, but I do know for sure that it’s male. I’ve never had a male appliance, but I think I’m ready for the challenge.