If you haven’t noticed already, I love little cakes. Mini cakes are not only cute and charming, they’re likely to make you very popular. This recipe makes two darling Mini Hummingbird Cakes, one to keep and one to share. Hummingbird Cake is a delightful way to use your ripe bananas. The version I’m sharing here also contains pineapple, pecans and coconut. This fruity, nutty combination reminds me of spring and would be perfect for Easter or a spring picnic.
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4-inch 2-layer cakes
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Ingredients
Hummingbird Cakes
- 1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 oz or 193g) all purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (4 oz or 113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) sugar
- 1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 oz or 100g) brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (8 oz or 228g) mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
- 1 8 oz (227g) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1/2 cup (2 oz or 56g) chopped pecans, toasted
- 1/4 cup (1 oz or 28g) sweetened dried coconut flakes, chopped* See note below.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (8 oz or 226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, room temperature, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 cups (17 oz or 482g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 8 oz (226g) package cream cheese, softened
Optional Decor
- green gel food color I used Americolor avocado green**
- yellow gel food cool I used Americolor lemon yellow***
- vodka
- 6 graham crackers (two squares each), crushed
- fresh pesticide free chamomile flowers
Ingredients
Hummingbird Cakes
Cream Cheese Frosting
Optional Decor
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Instructions
Hummingbird Cakes
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottoms of four 4-inch cake pans**** with parchment paper. Grease and flour the insides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar, with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy.
- Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in three separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next.
- Stir in bananas, pineapple, pecans and coconut until well combined
- Transfer batter to prepared cake pans, about 1 cup of batter in each pan. Place filled cake pans on a baking sheet.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25-28 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool.
- Trim cakes to 1-inch thickness. Fill, stack and frost cakes with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth and pale.
- Beat 1 tablespoon heavy cream, vanilla and salt into butter until well combined.
- On low speed, beat in powdered sugar a half cup at a time, until well combined.
- In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese with remaining 1 tablespoon heavy cream until smooth.
- On low speed, beat cream cheese mixture into butter mixture until smooth and well combined.
Decor
- To make graham cracker crumb moss: In two small bowls, dilute 1/8 teaspoon of each gel food color with a few drops of vodka. (Vodka will dissipate as crumbs dry.) Place graham cracker crumbs in a plastic zip bag. Add diluted food colors a little at a time and seal bag. Shake bag and gently massage to distribute color. Add more diluted food color as needed until desired shade of green is reached. Spread crumbs out onto a parchment lined baking sheet to dry. Apply crumbs to bottom edges of frosted cakes.
Recipe Notes
*Chop the coconut flakes to achieve a finer texture. This step is optional.
**To find the avocado green food color gel I used, click here.
***To find the lemon yellow food color gel I used, click here.
****To find the 4-inch cake pans I used, click here.