Hummingbird cupcakes

I never heard of a humming bird cake or cupcakes, and I had no idea of what kind of cake that is. Until I saw Jamie Oliver make a hummingbird cake that totally made me want to make it right away. The cake looked gorgeous and very delicious. I took his recipe as inspiration and made a few adjustments on my own.

I normally don't like eating or making cakes, probably because I tasted my share of really bad cakes, they were dry, flavorless or filled with so much heavy cream that made me sick after two bites. This cake really looked moist and the creme cheese filling seemed like a perfect combination with the cake.

Because baking a whole cake for just me and my husband seemed a little to much, I decided to make cupcakes. They are so simple to make and the ingredients are the same as for the original hummingbird cake. The cupcakes can also easily be transported and given away to your friends and family.
 
I did some research on the hummingbird cake and I found out that the main ingredients are banana, canned pineapple and pecans, which give a nice juiciness to the cake. The creme cheese icing is tangy and not too sweet, it really balances the whole dessert perfectly. I like my cupcakes with a small amount of icing, but if you prefer more icing just double the recipe. I saw that a lot of recipes use butter instead of oil in the cake recipe. I used oil because the iced cupcakes must be stored in the fridge and the oil in the cake batter keeps it moist even if stored in the fridge.

This cupcake recipe is one of my favorite, the cake has a lot of flavor and any time you open the airtight container with these cupcakes, the smell of banana and pineapple completely takes over the whole room.

Hummingbird cupcakes

(Makes 12)

Time:

Preparation: 20min

Baking: 20-25min

Cooling: 20min

Frosting: 25min

For the cakes:

• 175g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 125ml vegetable oil (can use olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 100g white granulated sugar
• 50g brown sugar (can use only white sugar)
• 2 ripe medium sized bananas
• 200g canned pineapple chunks
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 25g finely chopped peacans/walnuts

 For the creme cheese icing:

• 100g creme cheese (I used Philadelphia)
• 75g room temperature butter
• 100g icing sugar (to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Making the cakes:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), I use fan oven setting . 

Combine flour, cinnamon, sugars, finely chopped pecans and a pinch of salt in a bowl, mix and set aside. In another bowl mash the ripe bananas with the fork, drain the canned pineapple and finely chop and add to the mashed bananas. Add the oil, egg and vanilla extract, whisk until combined. 

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Try not to over-mix the batter, mix just until the mixture comes together, don't worry if there are some lumps in the batter. The lumps will disappear during baking.

Evenly divide the batter and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then take the cupcakes out of the mold and place them on the wire rack to cool completely. 

Making the creme cheese icing:

Place the butter in a bowl of your electric or hand mixer, add the icing sugar and beat until pale and creamy. Add the creme cheese and vanilla extract, beat until combined. It is really important not to over-mix it, the mixture could split if you beat it too much. Keep in the fridge until needed.

Ice the cupcakes as desired, I just smeared the icing on with the palette knife and topped them with a drizzle of caramel and a small piece of walnut.