It’s nearly the end of June and I confess that I had planned to do more cakey-layers than I actually have! Those ideas have been carefully filed in the “to do” pile, and will emerge in the fullness of time. But one of the patisserie style layer cakes I did want to make was a Hummingbird Cake.
Lots of people ask me for recipes for Hummingbird Cake, and funnily enough its a cake that I nearly never make – I rather like the flavours, pineapple, banana, coconut, walnuts and cream cheese, but it’s always further down on my “must make now” list. Having reconstructed it though, I think it might be high time that I made an un-reconstructed one.
Why a reconstruction? And what’s involved?
Well, during Cupcake a Day May, my bartender friend Ash suggested that I make a pina colada cupcake. And I couldn’t figure out how to make that work in a cupcake, because I knew immediately that it needed a pineapple jelly. Once you start making jelly, you’re really in the realms of patisserie, so I parked the idea. Then, someone asked me for a hummingbird cake recipe, and it occurred to me that this cake has a lot of flavour components, pineapple being one of them. So I thought, why not take the pineapple out and put it in a jelly layer; take the banana out and make a cake layer; take the cream cheese frosting and make a cheesecake layer; take the coconut and make a mousse layer; and take the walnuts and make a friand layer?
Why not indeed. Best. Idea. This month.
It also gave me the opportunity of making those gorgeous dried pineapple flowers, which I have had on my cooking radar for years.
Funnily enough, the components don’t take too long. I made the banana cake, walnut friand, pineapple basil jelly and nutmeg cheesecake layers in a couple of hours on a Friday evening (and still had time for two episodes of Game of Thrones). I made the coconut cream mousse, caramel and pineapple flowers and put it all together on the Saturday morning. It was ready to cut by 3pm.
This is a total celebration cake. It’s light and fresh in flavour and very moreish. It’s worth all the effort!
Reconstructed Hummingbird Cake
Gluten Free Banana Cake
(for non-gluten free, just substitute plain flour for the GF flour)
ingredients
100g butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup gluten free flour (I used White Wings)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
mixing
Line the base of a 19cm round pan with bake paper. This can be done by cutting a round of paper about 2cm larger on all sides than the pan, then pushing the paper onto the base of the pan and creasing the edges flat against the walls of the pan wherever necessary. While this is not the most elegant way of lining a cake pan, it works fine because the required depth for each component is small. As the entire cake will be coated on the outside, it doesn’t matter too much of the edges of the components are a little rough due to the folds of the paper.
Cream and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. With on low speed, add mashed bananas and beat until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together and add to the mixture with the milk and vanilla, beating until smooth.
Gluten Free Walnut Friand
(for non-gluten free, just substitute plain flour for the GF flour)
ingredients
3 egg whites
1/4 cup gluten free flour (I used White Wings)
3/4 cup icing sugar
mixing
Line the base of a 19cm round pan with bake paper, in the same way as for the banana cake.
Stir all the ingredients together until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Trim the friand if necessary so that you have a disc 1cm deep. Chill until needed.
Nutmeg Baked Cheesecake
ingredients
250g cream cheese
135g sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp nutmeg
mixing
Line the base of a 19cm round pan with bake paper, in the same way as for the banana cake.
Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in the sweetened condensed milk until all incorporated. Beat in egg and nutmeg. Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes or until the centre of the cheesecake is set. Let cool on a wire rack. Trim the cheesecake if necessary so that you have a disc 1cm deep. Chill the cheesecake until needed.
Pineapple Basil Jelly
The basil flowers add another dimension to the pineapple – you could use one or two finely chopped fresh basil leaves if you have no basil flowers.
ingredients
6g gelatine granules
mixing
Coconut Caramel
ingredients
60g caster sugar
15 mL water
30mL cream, warmed
50g butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
mixing
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat over high heat, shaking the pan often, until the sugar starts to dissolve and the mixture starts to boil. Let the mixture boil, shaking the pan often, until the sugar syrup starts to caramelise. This will happen quite rapidly. Sugar syrup keeps cooking when you remove it from the heat, so take the pan off the heat as soon as a golden colour starts to form. You can always put it back on the heat for a few seconds to continue to caramelise the syrup.
Let the caramel syrup sit for a few seconds and then carefully add the cream in a thin stream, stirring constantly. The mixture will bubble up ferociously and a lot of steam will be generated so take care not the burn yourself! When all of the cream has been incorporated, return pan to the heat and stir constantly until the mixture is smooth. Add the salt to taste. Let the caramel cool a little, then stir in the butter, stirring until completely incorporated.
Just before using, stir in the coconut.
While the caramel is still warm, spread the mixture over the trimmed surface of the banana cake. Freeze the cake until needed.
Coconut Cream Mousse
ingredients
350mL coconut cream
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
mixing
Pineapple flowers
You can make these while the assembled cake is in the freezer. You’ll need a whole fresh pineapple though you’ll only use half of it.