September Birthdays Part 2

For Louise's birthday I made her a Hummingbird Cake as I think they are great for birthdays.  Very simple recipe and you can make them look great for a special occasion.

The fondant is actually a lovely duck egg blue shade and I did the centres in brown.  The colours worked well together and looked very pretty!

A June Birthday Cake

My Mother-In-Law's birthday falls at the end of June and as they are going on holiday in a few days time, I made her birthday cake for her at the weekend to enjoy.  I was very impressed with the Hummingbird cake so I decided to make one for her birthday cake as well as I think it looks rather impressive.  Instead of the usual pecans, I added various sized blossoms all over the cake in white, pale pink and bright pink fondant.

This time I have remembered the recipe!

Hummingbird Cake
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300 ml vegetable oil
270 g mashed bananas (about 3 large ones)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g tinned chopped pineapple
100g pecans (or walnuts) chopped (or mixed nuts) plus extra to decorate if doing the plain version (I used mixed chopped nuts in the cake & just pecans to decorate on the previous cake)
2 quantities of cream cheese frosting * See later recipe

Preheat oven to 170°C or Gas 3 - I do 160°C as I have a fan assisted oven.
Put the sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, oil, banana & cinnamon in a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated (don't worry if the mixture looks slightly split).  Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda & salt and continue to beat until everything is well mixed.

Stir in the chopped pineapple and chopped mixed nuts by hand until evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture between 3 prepared cake tins (greased).  Don't worry the batter is quite liquidy but it will go amongst 3 tins.  Place in oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back.  Leave to cool slightly in the tins and then turn out to completely cool on a wire rack.

When the cakes are cold, place one sponge layer on a cake stand or whatever you are going to use (plate, board etc) and spread an amount of cream cheese frosting on top.  Then place the next layer on top and repeat until all 3 layers have been used.  Top the last cake on top and then spread the frosting down the sides to cover.  Make the 'lines' on the cake by running a palette knife up and down the sides.  Finish with either the pecans arranged on top or fondant cut outs, which ever you prefer.

Cream Cheese Frosting
300g icing sugar
50g unsalted butter at room temperature (soft)
125g cream cheese, cold (Philadelphia or supermarket equivalent)

This makes up one amount of the frosting.  This is enough to do about 12 cupcakes.  For the Hummingbird cake you need to double these amounts.  You will have some left over though but it keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Beat the icing sugar and the butter in a freestanding mixer until well mixed then add the cream cheese and beat on a medium speed.  Continue to mix until the frosting is light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes) but take care not to over beat as it can quickly go runny.

This frosting also works really well with red velvet cakes.

Hummingbird Cake

This cake is the signature cake from the Hummingbird Bakery, London and I have been wanting to try this cake for ages but kept finding I had parts of the ingredient list missing.  Eventually I had everything I needed so on Saturday afternoon this was on the baking agenda.

What a simple cake to make!  Very much along the lines of a carrot cake in taste & texture but with a few added ingredients (and no carrots!).  The addition of pineapple chunks and bananas keep this cake super moist and the cream cheese frosting works really well to complement the overall taste of the cake.

I made this for my Dad for Father’s Day and it looked very impressive indeed.  There is plenty of mixture for 3 tins as it is quite a liquid batter so don’t worry that you are going to run out.

If you are making a cake for a special occasion and don’t want to go down the fondant icing route then I would thoroughly recommend you make this cake as it both looks great and tastes fab!


(Oops, forgot to take down the ingredients list for this cake as well!!  ....will re-post tomorrow with the details)

You can see the pineapple chunks in the cake which keep it lovely & moist.  Sandwich all 3 layers together with the cream cheese frosting

Decorate with Pecan nuts. The lines were done with a small palette knife

Arty shot!!

Humming Bird Bakery Coffee & Chocolate Loaf Cake

As a big fan of The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook I had been eagerly awaiting their next recipe book called Cake Days. It was described as “recipes to make every day special”.  I bought it as soon as it came out some months ago now and so far it has not disappointed me.   Cake Days is crammed with cupcakes, whoopie pies, muffins and special occasion cakes. All split into handy sections; Spring, Mother’s and Father’s Days, Halloween, Easter, Bonfire Night etc. 

There are loads of recipes and beautiful pictures to accompany them and the best bit is they show you how to ice the cupcakes their way by showing you in pictures, which is really handy for anyone who has attempted to try to recreate their signature swirl that you see in their cookbooks.  Well worth looking at!!

There are a few good recipes for Whoopie Pies which seem to be enjoying a whole craze all to themselves.  I have to admit though I am not a big fan of them to be honest.

There are a few cake loafs and layer cakes as well. The coffee and chocolate loaf was very easy to make as I did it at the weekend and it tastes lovely.  I split the mixture into 2 loaf tins quite easily but it is more like a thick sponge mixture rather than a batter as the recipe states which suggested to me that it would be runnier. Nonetheless, it’s still delicious and rather than being overpowering in coffee flavour (which I am not a fan of), it subtly brings out the rich chocolaty flavour of the cocoa in the cake.

Chief Taster, Jess stated it would go perfectly with a cup of tea or as a dessert with cream and was very pleased when I gave her half the loaf to take home and Ve, Chief Taster Number 2 said, and I quote,…..”Amazing and in heaven!!” (think she liked it!!).  It’s a very light cake and lovely eaten just slightly warm.  Me & the OH also had it with some Chantilly cream that I made (whipping cream, icing sugar & vanilla whipped up) and that was just as nice as well.


Will post the recipe tomorrow as I forgot to jot down the ingredients from the recipe! (Duh!!)**

**  Recipe is as follows:

Coffee & Chocolate Loaf Cake

190g unsalted softened butter

130g plain flour

190g soft light brown sugar (or light muscavado if you prefer)

3 large eggs

60g cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon baking powder

20ml milk

1 tablespoon strong coffee (brewed and cooled)

Loaf tin*

* I split this mixture between 2 loaf tins to get 2 slightly smaller cakes, you can of course just fill one loaf tin.  I also use loaf tin liners as I find they are far easier to get the cakes out and its less faffing with greaseproof paper etc!

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (I do it to 160°C as I have a fan assisted oven).  Then grease and flour your loaf tin(s) if you are not using liners.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a freestanding mixer until pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and making sure you scape down the sides of the bowl after each addition and mix well.  The mixture should be quite fluffy and almost 'moussey' when you have finished.

Measure the milk and add the cooled coffee to it.  Set aside.

Add the dry ingredients and two batches, alternating with the coffee mixture.  Mix on a low speed until everything is incorporated, remembering to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Once everything is well mixed, increase the speed to medium-high and give a quick blitz to make sure you have a smooth batter.  This mixture is not very liquidy and is more like a regular sponge batter.  Spoon into the tin(s) and bake for one hour or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.  Allow to cool for a while in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This is lovely eaten slightly warm.