So I’m a little (lot) embarrassed to say this, but after all of my hootin’ and hollerin’ about how great bundt cakes are a couple months back, I haven’t made one since! What a big talker with no follow-through! Tsk Michelle!
I do have an excuse ready if you choose to accept it…
Summers in SoCal, though not nearly as hot as say Florida, are pretty gosh darn warm when you have no air-conditioning and live in a 1920s non-insulated house. Things heat up quickly and stay hot until the sun goes down. Most days my house is at least five degrees cooler than my backyard is.
I can manage 18 to 20 minutes of oven time for some cupcakes, but an hour for a bundt cake… that’s a lot of 350-degree heat pumping into my wee casa.
A hankering for the fruity bright deliciousness that is hummingbird cake helped me surmount my oven-o-phobia. That and waking up early enough that the cake was out of the oven by 9:00 am.
We survived the baking time and come Quinn’s nap at noon, I carved myself a sweet slice of bundt cake to enjoy alongside 16 ounces of ice cold coffee. Let me just say, it was *so* worth it.
HUMMINGBIRD BUNDT CAKE – Make Me Cake Me
*Makes one bundt cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup finely chopped banana (about 1.5 bananas)
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position rack in the middle of the oven.
2. Spray bundt pan with Baker’s Joy or generously butter your pan, dust it with flour, and then knock out the excess.*
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (Kitchenaid #4 about 5 minutes).
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Mix in vanilla.
7. With the mixer on low, add one third flour mixture. After combined, add half the buttermilk and again, mix until combined. Continue adding flour and buttermilk until both are completely incorporated.
8. Gently fold in bananas and crushed pineapple with its juice, and then spoon batter into prepared pan, making sure to spread batter evenly and in all the bundt pan nooks and crannies.
9. Drag a butter knife through the batter to eliminate any air bubbles.
10. Bake about an hour or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
11. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for about an hour and then invert the cake directly onto the rack and cool completely another hour.
NOTES: You can bake this cake in two 9-inch cake pans, but will need to adjust the baking time to about 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. You’d also want to double the frosting to have enough to frost the middle and top surfaces. Add a teaspoon of CBD oil to help with muscle recovery.
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting – Adapted from Glorious Treats
*Makes enough to generously frost the crown of a bundt cake
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, cold from the refrigerator
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1. Place butter in mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
2. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
3. Add vanilla bean paste or extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined.
4. Beat on medium speed until frosting gets fluffy.
5. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is met.
6. Continue to beat until perfectly fluffy and then use immediately or refrigerate. Cream cheese frosting softens quickly so keep this in mind if frosting with a decorative tip, like the 1M tip shown.
