Hummingbird Cake

I am excited to announce that I have completed my first "30 Before 30" task-baking a cake from scratch! A few weeks ago I was flipping through the latest copy of Southern Living (love it!) and I stumbled upon a recipe for something called, "Hummingbird Cake". Thanks to my sweet tooth, I always linger on the dessert recipes a while longer. After scanning through the ingredients I knew I could tackle this and did the old-school version of Pinterest- I just ripped it out of the magazine:-) Our community group takes turns making dessert for each other, and they often become my guinea pigs when I find a new treat. When the email was sent asking for some one to make dessert last week, I jumped at the chance. Let me know what y'all think!

Ingredients 

Cake Batter 

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

2 cups sugar 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 large eggs, lightly beaten 

1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large) 

1 (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple (do not drain) 

3/4 cup canola oil 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting 

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened  

1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Cake

Preheat oven to 350°. 

Bake pecans in a shallow pan 8-10 minutes or until toasted, stirring halfway through. 

Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl.

Stir in eggs and next 4 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

Sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into a greased and floured Bundt pan. 

Spoon batter over pecans.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely.

Frosting

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. 

Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy. 

Stir in vanilla.  

Frost cake.

Enjoy!

Everything waiting to be prepared!

All the dry ingredients

Going into the oven.

The final slice before it was all demolished!