Me too. I used to make it for potlucks at work but folks would either slice whole section or take more than 1 (pre-Covid of course). Then when it became requested (Funny that I couldn't make my own 🤷🏽♀️. After that I started making it as cupcakes . Thst ALMOST solved the problem. 😏🤦🏽♀️
Are you the same Hercules that went out drinking with Snow White and Quazimoto? Sittin' at the bar Herc see's himself in the mirror..."I must be the strongest man in the whole galaxy"! Sleep see's herself..."I must be the most Beautiful"!! Quazi looks and says "I must be the most ugliest"!! So they left and stopped at the Gypsy Camp nearby for one last round. Then they went into the Palm Readers tent to see what she would predict. Hercules came out and looking at his palm he exclaimed "It's true, it's true...I am the strongest man in the whole galaxy, Snow went in and came out looking at her palm, beaming.. "Oh my, it's sooo true, I am the most beautiful. Quazimoto comes out, scrating his head while looking at his palm and says..."Who the hell is Dennis Rodman"?
As I'm nursing my 9mo old daughter, I started playing this video. She immediately stopped feeding to look at my phone. Since she was a newborn she's always been entranced with Chef John's voice!
I've loved hummingbird cake since I was a little kid, I don't know where my grandmother got the recipe, but she forgot to write it down for us. I'm so thrilled to find it here. Thank you for making an old woman happy
If this recipe doesn't taste quite right, try the one from Better Homes and Gardens! It was the one every southern grandma seemed to use for decades, they still print it to this day!
I literally thought someone was gonna reply to this and not get it so I could wooosh them :( there isn't. ): But his ability to narrate is just amazing, considering he would be chewing and chewing and crunching.... Oh sorry, was thinking about his fried chicken sandwich video.
I worked at a very large, very physically demanding factory and had two badly torn shoulders. One day my trainer knew I really was in an asinine amount of pain. He drove back to his house on break and brought me a slice of his wife's Hummingbird cake. It was so prefect and delicious. Now its in my yearly baking rotation.
One of my mother's favorite jokes is whenever anyone asks her how this cake is made: the hardest part about making this cake is grinding the little beaks and feet.
My parents owned a restaurant when I was growing up, and this was my mom's signature cake on the menu. Really brings back the memories. I can't wait to make one myself and see how it compares to hers!
The inverted cake pan trick is genius, can't believe I've never heard of or thought of that before, thank you for including and sharing that even though it wasn't helpful in this recipe. Also, for those of you who haven't tried to make sugar art, you should. It's a lot of fun and a huge boost to your culinary repertoire
My grandmother would make this with Ermine frosting or cream cheese frosting. And if pawpaws were in season (late August), she would replace half the bananas with pawpaws. Your recipe, Chef John, looks like the one I will now use. I will no longer use small chunk pineapple, but rather the crushed instead! About 40 minutes south of me at the buttermilk bakery in Petersburg, Virginia, they serve a wonderful hummingbird cake by the slice or by the whole thing! That slice and a cup of black coffee make a wonderful 3 PM snack to get you through any lull.
I've actually made this before using your carrot cake recipe without the carrots and just added the bananas. You're supposed to put coconut flakes on the cake after frosting, but I think its up to personal taste.
I'm a Yankee and I made this cake for my husband's birthday a few years ago. It truly is delicious. I did make mine with three six inch layers and I frosted the sides and covered the sides with toasted nuts. (That was a lot easier than making a sugar hummingbird) and it looked very impressive. I'm not a baker but this is a very easy cake to make.
You uploaded an amazing cake recipe less than a week before my birthday. Unbelievably serendipitous. I've already arranged a grocery delivery for everything I need.
I just had hummingbird cake for the first time about a month ago and I love it!. My wife is from the south and hasn't had it in many years, so gave it a shot. But she did it in 3 layers. After all, she is the John Mayer of the quantity of her cake's layers.
My siblings and I had baking days once in a while and often made hummingbird cake. We also added sunflower seeds or chopped pumpkin seeds and it was amazing.
My daughter and grandson made this and it’s phenomenal! I gave her 8” pans by mistake and it took much longer to cook but the presentation of a tall cake is beautiful! Thanks!
Chef John, I just made this cake (your recipe, of course) a couple days ago and it's BOMB!!!!!!!! I will definitely be making it again soon!!! Thank you so much!!!!
In Jamaica we don't do frosting, we make a glaze. We don't use pineapple, we use coconut flakes, but I would still try this. If you're ever in Jamaica, seek out a Pastry Passions location, they make the absolute BEST hummingbird cake. Great video Chef John!
Hummingbird cake is one of the only foods I have fond memories of with my grandma. She was a terrible cook most of the time, but hummingbird cake was a major exception to the rule. I remember as a kid, my job was to wash my hands three times while she got all the fruit, eggs, oil, and nuts in a bowl, then mash it together really well. Then I got to wash my hands again while she mixed in the flour and other stuff, and prep the pans for her. Easy jobs for a kid, the mashing and smashing was incredibly fun for little kid me, and the cake itself was a great treat afterwards. Thank you for the unintended nostalgia, Chef! I think I'll have to wait until the weather cools off before I make this, but it's absolutely on my baking list this year.
Gonna print and make this as soon as I can muster the energy to go to the store for pineapple. And the way that butter hit the bowl was very satisfying.
My oldest asks for this cake every year for her bday. She loves it. One year I told her she had to catch the humming birds cause I wasn't feeling so good. The look on her face was priceless. She's very easy to pull one over on her. Took me a while to convince her there were no actual humming birds used in the cake. The only different thing I do is bake it in a heavy cast iron bunt pan that looks like flower petals and I thin down the cream cheese frosting so it is drizzle-able. Otherwise it's way too sweet for us. But a drizzle is just right. Ohh and we perfer walnuts. But otherwise, same cake and it definitely takes care of the sweet tooth if ya have one.
I came across this recipe years ago and tried it. It really is very moist and very delicious. At the time I made it as a single layer sheet cake. But now I think I may need to try it has a double layer cake!
It’s not very well known in Australia but when I had it at wedding cake testing I knew it was “THE ONE” just like my first date with my husband. Love you and your work Chef John!
I grew up down South, and this cake showed up at every major family gathering....my favorite. I'm no fan of cream cheese frosting, but it works 100% for this. Make it!!
Serving suggestion for this cake. Try putting a slice on a plate, thing adding one of those little cold fruit cups of peaches over it. Absolutely delicious.
I used to make Hummingbird Cakes for my youngest sister unfortunately she’s no longer with us. She was a huge fan of Carrot Cake but no one else liked it, that’s when I switched over to the Hummingbird Cake! I add two more spices than you do though, Allspice and Cardamom and a lot less caster sugar. I like to purée half of my pineapple and finely chop the rest. I also mash my bananas. I love your version of Cream Cheese Frosting, l don’t enjoy an overly sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting! You’re Hummingbird was absolutely beautiful! I used to add Pineapple Flowers... Thinly sliced pineapple, bake until they were dehydrated and placed into a cupcake tin until dried to form a “Flower”.
My go- to cream cheese frosting is 8oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1T vanilla, whipped then folded into 8oz Cool Whip. Real whipped cream is great but less stable.
Oh, yeah! Doctor Bird Cake! My Mom used to make this often when we were kids. She baked hers in one layer, in a 9 X 13 casserole dish. Easier to take to her ladies' luncheons, I think. Always in demand, that cake. Everyone raved about it... except me. Just not a fan of cream cheese frosting. When I make carrot cake, I make a butter cream. I guess I could do that for this, too. I still have Mom's original recipe card from waaay back in the day. I'll have to think about making this for our boys.
Looks delicious!!! My ONLY problem is I LOVE cream cheese frosting, so I am going to have to double the portions and slabber it all over the cake!! The sides too!!!!
This year at Thanksgiving the baking soda got left out of the hummingbird cake. Not recommended. We ended up having a hummingbird cake that was delicious and hummingbird doughy pancakes that were not.
Chef John, I never thought to stack my cakes on a cake stand to frost when u don't have a cake plate. So even tho u didn't need to frost the sides of the cake for this recipe it still helped me that u mentioned it 😊
"And by the time you're done stirring all this together, you should have a nice pourable batter. And that's it, once our batter ingredients have been battered into a batter..." I'm not sure why this amused me so much that I had to rewind and watch it again like 5 more times.
The first time I ever had hummingbird cake was down in Disney world; at Art Smith's Homecomin' restaurant. That was the most incredible cake ever! I'm looking forward to giving this one a try.
