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The giveaway winner is announced at the end of this post.
Before last week, I had never truly appreciated the memories I had from my grandma's house.
I mean, I knew that those memories were special. I just didn't realize *HOW* special. Until all of your lovely comments.
I absolutely LOVED reading all of the wonderful memories each of you had from "back in the day." Several stories made me laugh and a few brought me to tears. Thank you all for sharing such special moments with me. As each email came in and I read your stories, I felt honored to be reading them. Seriously, if y'all get a chance you should go back and read all the stories and memories everyone shared!
I've also now decided that I love the idea of tradition. From all the memories, I have been inspired to start cookie decorating at Christmas time with the kiddos and making pizza every Friday night. We'll see how long that lasts! LOL! But it sounds super fun. Especially during the school year. Going to the grocery store after school on Fridays to pick out toppings. Little Butt will love that!!
Speaking of Little Butt. She's enjoying her Summer at her grandma's house. It being her first time there without me (for this long) she is definitely homesick. But we get her back in a little under 2 weeks. I can't wait!!
My sister in law sent me this picture of my baby girl a few days ago. Dang that girl loves her some chicken wings. Hahaha!
While Little Butt has been gone, Baby N has been getting into all kinds of mischief. He pushed that toy shopping cart up against the couch so he could climb up to get to the window and play with the Christmas lights around the window. Yes. I am aware that it's August now and I still haven't taken down my Christmas lights. I'm okay with this.
He has also decided that this chair that is acting as a barrier to the cords under the television is now a great option for climbing to get to the cords behind the television.
He has been discovering new headgear. He loves to put this bucket on his head and shout "ba ba!" Then he giggles and does it again. I think he likes the echo inside. Or how hollow it sounds. I don't know but he does it several times a day.
He has also taken to rearranging my cabinets. That's all in between him walking like he has walked all his life. The boy is ridiculous.
While I'm on ridiculous things, let's get back to this hummingbird cake. I've made another hummingbird cake in the past. That is when I discovered how delicious this cake is. I've talked about this type of cake so much that when my mother saw the recipe in The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook she requested I make one.
I made the cake and we snacked on the trimmings from it. Then my mom asked if I wanted to go to a birthday celebration with her. I figured why not? I have a cake! Unfortunately, the party went so long that we left about half an hour before the cake was cut!
Luckily, I made the cake again yesterday. This cake is another winner from this cookbook. It is so moist. I told my nephew that Hummingbird cake is like banana bread on crack. The texture of the cake is dense because of the 5 mashed bananas in it. Little pockets of sweet pineapple are studded throughout and chopped pecans give the cake a little texture.
The frosting is out of this world. Cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. What more can a girl ask for?? I found the frosting a bit difficult to work with right after mixing. I needed to refrigerate it a bit to get it to hold any type of shape and not melt off the cake. But that was my only hiccup.
This cake is big, beautiful, and would make a stunning addition to any dinner table. The next time you have friends or family over I suggest you place this cake in the center of your spread.
Let's bake!
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
In a stand mixer, beat together both sugars and the oil until smooth.
Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. After all the eggs have been added, beat for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla, bananas,and pineapple until just combined.
With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, until combined.
Fold in a 1/2 cup of pecans.
Evenly distribute the batter between 2 prepared pans. Smooth with a rubber spatula. Then tap the pans firmly onto the counter tops to release any air bubbles that formed in the batter.
Bake the cakes then let the cool.
Mix up the frosting and frost the cake. Then decorate the sides of the cake with the remaining cup of pecans.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook
Printer Friendly Version
Ingredients:
- 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cups canola oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 5 large bananas)
- 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided
- 1 recipe cream cheese frosting, recipe below
Directions:
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9 by 2 inch round cake pans (I used 8 by 3 inch pans) with baking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat both sugars and the oil until smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, banana, and pineapple, mixing until just combined.
- On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary, and beating until combined.
- Fold in 1/2 cup of the pecans
- Divide the batter evenly among the 2 prepared pans, smooth the tops with a rubber spatula, and tap the pans firmly on the counter tops to remove air bubbles that may have formed.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes. Then invert onto wire racks and allow to cool completely.
- To assemble the cake, level the top of one layer and place cut side down on a serving platter.
- Using an offset spatula, evenly spread a large dollop of frosting on the top of the cake layer. Top with the second cake layer, right side up.
- Frost the top and sides of the of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- Press the remaining cup of pecans into the sides of the frosted cake.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
- 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes.
AND THE WINNER IS!