For weeks I’ve been talking about sharing an experience in making a Hummingbird Cake. For many seasoned cake bakers, this isn’t news, but apparently the Hummingbird cake is the youngest member of the southern cake tradition. Its first appearance is credited to Southern Living Magazine when they published a recipe by a Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, NC in the February 1978 issue under the title “Making the most of bananas.” The Southern Living recipe is for a 2-layer Hummingbird cake.
The single layer Hummingbird Cake recipe I used was sent to me by Karen L.B. Evans, president and founder of Black Women Playwrights’ Group based in Washington, DC. The recipe was from her mother Elizabeth Evans‘ copy of the Lane Christian Methodist Episcopal Church cookbook published in 1987.
Elizabeth Evans
My mother, Elizabeth Evans held her own and navigated her way in a very political church with her Hummingbird Cake. She was a faithful churchgoer and came into money after my father died. There was a big push to get her involved in the Board and other committees, but that just wasn’t her style. She did increase her giving and she continued to serve on the Stewardess board. The cakes came along with her increased giving. It was a “sweet” way to raise her profile and not get involved with a lot of political goings on that just weren’t her style. Every church affair, funeral, Sunday School event, fashion show, was graced by a hummingbird cake from her. Great cake, lovely memory about giving what you can give.
Apparently Lane CME (Washington, DC) published several cookbooks and Elizabeth Evans did submit a recipe of her own to one of the volumes. On page 141 of the 1987 cookbook, two recipes for Hummingbird Cake appear together: one without nuts and baked in a tube pan submitted by Sandra McDaniel; one with chopped pecans and baked in a rectangular Pyrex dish submitted by Janet Smith. I chose to make the latter.
HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 beaten eggs
1 ½ c. oil
2 c. chopped bananas
1 c. chopped pecans
1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
Mix dry ingredients. Add eggs and oil. Stir until well moistened, but do not beat. Add fruit, nuts and flavoring. Stir until mixed well. Bake in a 350° oven in 13 x 9 x 2-inch Pyrex dish for 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Top with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2 (3 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 c. sifted powdered sugar
Cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Gradually add sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
Janet Smith
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A few notes on my experience. I figured I could use found ingredients meaning, “what I have on hand” at home, and do minimal shopping. The found ingredients included, vanilla, butter, flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, eggs, bananas, my last box of confectioners sugar, and some organic powdered sugar, and organic cream cheese my sister left in my cabinet from her cookie baking over the holidays. I sifted the powdered sugars together.
I usually buy small bananas for eating. If I bought the larger ones, I probably wouldn’t have made an extra trip to the grocery store. As is, 4 1/2 small ripe bananas produced two cups of chopped bananas.
I bought a small 8 oz can of crushed pineapple, but had to return to the store for a 20 oz can. Was 20 ounces living “large” in 1987? I held back about a 1/3 cup of the contents to make sure the batter wasn’t too soupy. I was thinking banana bread in terms of the consistency; just not as stiff. The whole point of the Hummingbird Cake is its simplicity with delicious results. There’s no alternating wet/dry ingredients. In fact it’s quite okay to beat all the eggs together, add it to the dry mixture followed by the oil etc.
Though the recipe said to bake in the Pyrex™ dish for 30 minutes, my advice is to bake until done and use the toothpick test (insert into the cake until it comes out dry, especially in the center). No two ovens are alike. My cake took 1 hour and 7 minutes to bake all the way through. After the cake settled, no moisture seemed to be lost, even around the edges.
There will be follow up to this post as I have talked with Janet Smith briefly by phone. She said the Lane cookbook Hummingbird Cake is a family recipe her older sister and nieces make all the time. We’ll have a follow up discussion about the cake and recipe book hopefully soon; and another discussion with Karen for more about her mother’s Hummingbird Cake story. Unfortunately, I couldn’t save Karen a piece for memory tasting. With bananas and pineapple in the mix, you start justifying having cake for breakfast. All the cake tasters agreed, this Hummingbird Cake was delicious.
In the meantime to complete this Hummingbird Cake diary, the search is still on for Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, NC legend or lore. For a recent Southern tradition, the Hummingbird definitely flies.
