04 July 2011

Triple Layer Hummingbird Cake


July 4th is a special day for all Americans and  it is for us too.. We celebrate the birth of our little prince who turns 2 on this day.
I have been thinking of which new cake to bake on this special day. Checked out a lot of cakes but was not able to decide which one and wanted to try something new which I have never heard of before. Being an amateur in baking I was quite apprehensive about choosing the cake recipe. Finally I decided on the Hummingbird Cake. Found it very interesting because of its ingredients and because it was quite hassle free compared to the rest. J

Just loved the flavors. It was amazing! Crunchy, at the same time could get the taste of pineapple and it just melts in your mouth. I don’t like the taste of banana cake but in this cake the taste of banana was not so evident so I loved it. It is truly a fruit and nut studded super moist cake.

The best part about this cake is that there is no beating, forming peaks, sifting and stuff. It is quite easy. This was my first trial with layered cakes and quite happy with the result.



INGREDIENTS
Recipe Source: Godairyfree.org

All Purpose Flour – 3 cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
Ground Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Eggs – 3 large beaten
Vegetable Oil - 1 ½ cup
Crushed Pineapple – 227 gm (8 ounce)
Bananas – 2 Chopped
Almonds/Pecans – 1 cup chopped
Vanilla Extract – 1 ½ teaspoon

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Recipe Source: Joy of baking

Unsalted Butter – ¼ cup at room temperature
Cream Cheese – 227 gm at room temperature
Confectioners/Icing Sugar – 454 gm sifted
Vanilla Essence – 1 teaspoon
½ cup – Chopped Almonds/ Pecans



METHOD

Preheat oven 180 degree C.
Combine all the dry ingredients. Stir well with a ladle.
Beat the eggs slightly and add to the powder mixture.
Add the oil and mix again. Do not beat just mix well so as to combine all the ingredients.
Stir in the pineapple with the juice, banana, 1 cup of the nuts and vanilla.
Grease 3 (9-inch) round cake pans with butter. Line the bottoms of the cake pans with parchment paper. Grease each pan with 1 tbsp. butter and dust with a little flour; shake pans so that flour evenly coats them. Invert pans and tap out excess flour.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until a until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for 10 – 15 minutes. Invert pans and remove parchment paper and let cool on rack.



Frosting

The actual recipe for the frosting is given above. As I did not manage to get Cream Cheese I had to go for the butter icing. Just beat the butter (approx 400 gm) to make it soft and then keep adding the icing sugar as per your preference. The butter icing recipe calls for 1:2 ratio of butter and icing sugar but I find that too sweet. So keep adding till you get the right texture and stop adding icing sugar when the sweetness level is as per your palate.



Assembly

Place one layer of the cake on the cake stand.
Apply the icing evenly on the top. Place the second and third layer repeating the same process.
Spread the frosting on the sides. Decorate with the chopped Almonds/ Pecans.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.




Sending this recipe to Pari's  'Only Series' of events is hosted at Tamalapaku's  by Harini - Jaya 




37 comments:

  1. Such a delicious cake..looks delicious..:)

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  2. Turned out so well and perfect for the celebration

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  3. Happy birthday to ur lil one..may god bless him..Cake looks super elegant,absolutely delicious and stunning..

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  4. Thanks Pratibha, Jeyashri and Priya for the quick and wonderful comments. And thanks for the wishes too.. :)

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  5. Wish A Very Happy Birthday to ur little one. Coke looks superb and awesome............. Enjoyyyyyyy.

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  6. wow dear love the recipe...wow nice presentation...love the icing and decoration

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  7. that cake looks awesome..first time here and you have a nice space

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  8. delicious and yummy cake
    1st time here wonderful recipes do vist my site

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  9. Gorgeous cake,luks so yum...Wish a happy birthday to ur little one.

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  10. wow wow wow....that looks so perfect n' gorgeous....totally love the presentation too...happy b'day to ur little one...:)

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  11. Wow! Rinku, the cake looks awesome!! Happy birthday to little Ayush & wishing him a bright future and God's abundant blessings!! Sorry I couldnt call u, was down with a bad migraine, will call 2moro, tc

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  12. Beautiful cake :) love the decoration part :)

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  13. Wow! the cake is looking awesome!!Blessings to the lil one.
    Thanks for sending in the entry.

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  14. Happy Birthday to your little prince ~ Good bless n lots of hugs to him! The cake looks spectacular, very professional!
    US Masala

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  15. Gorgeous and wonderful cake !!

    Ongoing Event - CC-Roti Pachadi/Chutney

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  16. So pretty! I love the name too...very sweet.
    I hope your little one had a lovely birthday :)

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  17. Wow, loved everything on that cake..very beautifully and nicely done..looks amazing indeed...in between belated birthday wishes to your little one..God bless him..

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  18. Wonderful, delicious, fabulous and lovely looking cake. Very beautifully presented.

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  19. Cake looks great and clicks are too good!

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  20. Lovely cake. I love the frosting too. Butter frosting always works :) especially if you keep in the fridge for some time it set well :)

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  21. Looks georgeous,sounds delicious and flavorful cake..beautifullly presented.

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  22. Happy birthday to ur lil one rinku..perfect and yummy looking cake..love it!

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  23. WOWW.. now this looks sooo inviting.. I love cakes. And hey.. belated birthday wishes to you lil' one.. :)

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  24. Your Cake looks gorgeous..always bookmarked this one but never got to try it..and urs looks cool :)

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  25. Belated birthday wishes to your prince..the cake looks yum yum..

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  26. delicious looking cake happy belated birhday

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  27. cake looks delicious.. easy too...

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  28. Belated happy b'day to your lil boy! He's so lucky to have a wonderful mom who papers him with such gorgeous treats, god bless. The cake looks awesome, can't imagine making something so grand myself...!

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  29. Rinku, gotta hand it to you - you are quite the baker and your pictures speak a 1000 words! LOVE these beauties! My waistline is getting larger as I see these pics though (lol:)

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  30. Lovely! Now tell me why it is called Humming Bird Cake..

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  31. Thanks for asking Sushmachi..There seems to be 2 reasons for this..1)Humming bird cake seems to have originated from Jamaica. And Humming bird is the Jamaican National Bird. 2) hummingbird cake was named in reference to how these birds eat. These tiny creatures are drawn to intensely sweet food sources.
    Similarly this cake really attracts people and is consumed quickly and this reminds us of hummingbirds eating patterns. I like this explanation as u see I didn't have a piece to be photographed showing the layers.. :)

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  32. yummy cake...loved the froasting....looks so tempting..

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  33. Wowwwwwwwww.. Mouth watering pictures.. Love the preparation and presentation.. Thanks for sharing dear.. Awesome job :)
    Indian Cuisine

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  34. OMG! awesome cake...love the way you have presented it!

    My first time here...nice space you have...

    Happy to follow you....

    http://anuzhealthykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/07/event-berries-strawberry-desserts.html

    I am hosting an Event on Berries this month...hope to see some recipes from you...and a chance to guest host too...

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