hummingbird — Housewife's Whimsy

These cupcakes are not the “normal” type of cupcakes I make. They are a combination of pineapple, banana, coconut and pecans. However, when I was looking for a unique type of cupcake to make for some friends who watched Pond for a day, I decided on these.Hummingbird cake is a southern staple. It was created in Jamaica in the late 1960’s. It is named after the hummingbirds that grace the island. The cake was brought to US popularity when a woman submitted the recipe to Southern Living in the late 1970’s. Ever since then it has been a staple cake among southern bakers. If you don’t live in the south, it is likely you’ve never heard of this cake or ever enjoyed a slice. I know I certainly hadn’t ever heard of it before a few years ago.I received so many compliments on these cupcakes. This cake is not overly sweet. It really relies on the tropical flavors to carry the cake rather than your typical sugary cake flavor. Since this was the first time our friends had ever had this cake they were very surprised by its tropical flavor combinations. However, they absolutely loved it and I’m certain you will too!For this recipe I used a SUPER ripe banana that my mother had given me a couple months prior. The longer you leave bananas out the more pronounced the flavor will be. You really want to make certain the flavor shows through in these. If you don’t have a several months old banana to use just make sure that your banana is very, very brown. If you don’t like pecans you can simply leave them out of the recipe. They provide a fantastic crunch, but I know not everyone is a fan.I topped these cupcakes with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. I wanted something simple that would really showcase the flavor of the cupcakes. I then put a dried banana slice, candied pineapple and chopped pecans on top. I thought about adding some toasted coconut around the sides but decided against it for the sake of time. You can certainly add it if you prefer. Annie-Eats also has a tutorial on making pineapple flowers that look absolutely beautiful on these type of cupcakes.[amd-yrecipe-recipe:74]

Source: Cake adapted from Annies-Eats