Last weekend The Hubble went out to a barbecue with a bunch of guys he used to work with. The guys were down here for school and somehow the small get together we were planning turned into something huge.
Little Butt and I were planning to attend this cook out but when The Hubble received yet another phone call telling us that more guys were coming, I decided to beg off. It's not that I didn't want to go...I just didn't want to go! LOL!
The more phone calls that came in, the more guys who were going to be attending, the more I thought that Little Butt and I would not have any fun.
The cook out was going to be held near the barracks on the base and there's just no way. Little Butt wouldn't have had anything to do, and I would have just gotten annoyed at The Hubble because I would be chasing her all over the place while he had fun.
So I made some pasta salad and queso and threw together some burger fixin's for him and sent him on his merry way. Then Little Butt and I decided to have a girl's night. We ordered pizza and watched TV.
At a certain point I started thinking that it would be a great night to make my friendly neighborhood baking challenge cake! This month's challenge was chosen by my friend Melanie. It's a Hummingbird cake!
This cake was so tasty! My frosting was awfully thin so I had to refrigerate it several times to get it thick enough to stay on the cake.
The first cake maker in the group had set hers up with a beautiful silk Lily and a paper hummingbird cut out. It was so lovely. As we do more things in the group I'm starting to see everyone's creativity a bit more.
So I reserved a bit of the frosting, colored it and piped on a flower and some dots. This was my first time at "free hand" piping and I wasn't all that thrilled with it. But what can you do??
The cake itself though?? Amazing! The ingredients were different from any other cake I've ever had. It tasted sweet and tangy and moist and just delicious. I'm kind of sad I sent it to class with The Hubble.
But if I hadn't...you know I would have eaten that thing all by myself! Yup...it's true.
So there you have it! That's our baking assignment for the month. Oh, and I created a group on Facebook for this challenge so other people can get involved if they would like. You can search for it as "Your Friendly Neighborhood Baking Challenge" on Facebook. I also tried linking it but I don't know if that will work.
Anyway. Here's the recipe!
Hummingbird Cake
Retrieved from Food Network
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, for greasing
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- 3 ripe bananas, chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
For the Frosting:
- 2 packages cream cheese (8 ounces each), at room temperature
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment and dust with flour.
- Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and bake until fragrant and toasted, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly, then roughly chop. Toss with the bananas, pineapple and 1/2 cup flour in a small bowl.
- Whisk the remaining 2 1/4 cups flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat the eggs and granulated sugar in a separate bowl with a mixer on high speed until thick and light, 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the vegetable oil.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg mixture, then gently fold to make a thick batter. Fold in the pecan-fruit mixture, then transfer the batter to the prepared pans. Bake until the cakes are firm and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pans on a rack, 25 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the rack to cool completely.
- Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy, then gradually beat in the butter until combined. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Add the lemon zest and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
- Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread about half of the frosting on top, then cover with the other cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
