Friday, March 22, 2013

Hummingbird cake.. the way I like it ^^


I couldn't help myself.. mini chocolate easter eggs are just toooo cuuute! I just had to grab a pack, especially since it's in white chocolate ~ chubby pig's favorite! ^^

And I couldn't help giving myself a pat on my shoulders for spotting some dole bananas going at half price ~ the skins were a little spotty, otherwise they were perfect for a banana bake! I'm such a savvy consumer, haha! Wonder why I've never noticed such bargains before?? ^^

Anyway, it's been a year since I made hummingbird cake, and while I enjoyed the first bake, I knew if I were to make it again, I wanted to make it using the butter-creaming and egg-separation method.. with a less watery frosting! So here goes ^^

Hummingbird Cake (see previous post for an easy one-bowl mix/southern way!)

1 cup / 250g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar (not necessary to reduce further ^^)
4 medium eggs yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
375g self-raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of salt
75ml pineapple juice/syrup (from crushed pineapples)
300g undrained pineapples, crushed (use pineapple rings, not tidbits or chunks!)
3-4 large / 400g bananas, mashed
4 medium egg whites
100g caster sugar

Cream Cheese Frosting 
125g cream cheese
250ml whipping cream
100g icing sugar, sifted 
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy on medium speed, about 4 minutes. 

3. Add egg yolks one by one on very low speed till well combined. 

4. Mix in vanilla extract.

5. Fold in sifted flour, cinnamon and salt into the batter, in 3 batches. Alternate between half the pineapple syrup, ending with flour.

6. Mix in crushed pineapples and mashed bananas till well combined.

7. In a clean bowl, whip egg whites till foamy, then add sugar bit by bit. Beat till egg whites mixture become thick and soft peaks form.

8. Slowly add egg whites mixture into cake batter till well combined.

9. Pour into 3 - 8 inch pans and bake for 30 minutes. Otherwise, this cake mixture can be baked in cupcake tins for 25-30 minutes. I made 12 cupcakes and 1 7-inch square cake (45-50 minutes) with this batter this time.

10. Leave to cool before frosting.

Cream cheese frosting ~ beat cream cheese till light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Fold in icing sugar and vanilla extract. In another bowl, beat whipping cream till glossy and stiff. Fold in whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture gently till combined.  


You noticed the cracks on the chocolate eggs, didn't you? Yup, I broke them while tearing the packet  open.. What can I say.. oops, I have butter-fingers?? ^^||


These cakes are perfect ~ for me! The right texture, the right sweetness, the right frosting ~ just the way I like it! ^^

p.s. I'm seriously stopping after this bake.. the sweets policeman, papa pig, has noticed I've been sending up too many cakes lately, yikes! ^^|| 


9 comments:

Chef and Sommelier said...

Hi Hui! For a moment, I thought those were hardboiled quail eggs on top of the cupcakes!

You are quitting? For good? :(

Pls don't... You can slow down but do not stop completely! We will miss your posts!

Mel said...

The title "Butter Lady" really suits you right, with butter fingers as well...oops! Few years back I wanted to bake Hummingbird Cake for my sister's birthday but after I read comments in bloggers' review most of them didn't rated good about this cake therefore I have never tried baking it. They said it has funny taste. You should have put a pic of the inside texture of this cake for me to see leh.... the chocolate egg looks so much like Quail egg, and I thought earlier you really put that quail egg on the frosting.... heheheheh! you can stop baking for cakes but you can start baking for savoury food, like tarts, pies, etc so you won't stop for blogging! Looking forward....

pudgy butterfly said...

haha, quail eggs wouldn't fit on top of the cupcakes ^^ btw, these white choc eggs taste really good! and i'm not really stopping, stopping.. just lying low for a while till the gunfire subsides ^^ thanks for the nice words, chef ^^

pudgy butterfly said...

i'm glad i didn't read that hummingbird cake tastes funny, mel. they really don't taste funny at all! they taste very very good actually! taste and smell more banana-ey than pineapple ^^

you can see a cross section/texture of this cake made using the easy one-bowl-mix-all method in my previous post.. it actually turned out really nice too.. just that i like my cakes made with butter and a "softness and spring" that can only be produced with the egg separation method ^^

good idea on the savories.. maybe i'll be able to get away with that! ^^ otherwise look out for my sweets post again in 2 weeks time when i make something for big pig's whodunit party! ^^

Amy said...

Yum....I love that you turn the hummingbird cake into a cupcake. :) The white chocolate eggs are really cute decoration on these cupcakes. Perfect for Easter. :)

pudgy butterfly said...

i agree ^^, the white chocolate eggs are cute.. taste yummy too! ^^

Lisa Ho said...

Oh nO dont stop...

your cupcakes looks so pretty, love the piping and the 2 eggs added a nice touch :D

pudgy butterfly said...

thanks, lisa ^^ trying to lie low for a little while ^^ but i'm already having withdrawal symptoms from not having any cakes ^^|| so i sneaked in some steamed cakes yesterday ^^

Rosita Vargas said...

Me encanta se ve irresistible muy muy rico,hugs,hugs.