Cakes - my Granny almost never made a cake from a mix until later in life. This one was one of my Granny's signature recipes - except she didn't create it.
It's a prize-winning recipe from the Kentucky State Fair - awarded the Favorite Cake Award in 1978 (to Mrs Helen Wiser), although it was originally published in Southern Living Magazine and credited to Mrs L H Wiggins in 1978.
Special occasions usually warranted my Granny baking this cake. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as the people who had the chance to eat Granny's did. What's not to like anyway? Pineapple and Banana - the tropics at their best!
Hummingbird Banana Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (use real)
1 - 8 oz can crushed pineapple - do not drain
1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans (divided)
2 large bananas - extra ripe (really brown or blackened skins), mashed
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe to follow)
maraschino cherries (optional)
Directions:
Grease and Flour 3 9-inch cake pans. Preheat oven to 350° F.
Combine flour, sugar, soda, salt and cinnamon in mixing bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened - do not beat. Next, stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup of pecans and bananas.
Spoon into prepared pans; bake 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 to 1 stick softened (room temperature) butter (don't use margarine)
8 oz cream cheese
1 - 1 lb box confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, until all is incorporated.
Start with layer one, add frosting to cover top, add layer two and frost again. Top with the final layer. Frost the sides and then the top. Using 1/2 cup pecans, sprinkle over the top. If you like, press the additional pecans to the sides and place maraschino cherries on the top at intervals.
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