Incredible Vegan Hummingbird Cake! It's fluffy, incredibly flavourful, super sweet, bursting with banana, pineapple, and pecans, and smothered in silky, luscious cream cheese frosting.
PREP TIME: 30 minutesminutes
COOK TIME: 45 minutesminutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hourhour15 minutesminutes
Servings: 14servings
Ingredients
3¼ cups + 2 teaspoons (410grams)all-purpose flour, (use plain flour in the UK)
1½ cups (300grams)brown sugar, dark or light brown both work well
¼ cup (60mls)pineapple juice, from the can is fine
1 tablespoon (15mls)apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon (15mls)vanilla extract
1 packed cup (195grams)canned pineapple pieces or crushed pineapple in natural juice , (not syrup). Measure the pineapple after draining & chopping finely. Leep the juice!
2 cups (200grams) chopped pecans, divided
Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup (227grams or 8 oz)vegan cream cheese, I use Tofutti
½ cup (110 grams)vegan butter, it must be a hard variety like Earth Balance or my recipe. Soft like Flora or Becel won't work welll.
4 to 5 cups (500 to 625 gramsgrams)powdered sugar(icing sugar in the UK)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven 350 °F (175 °C) and have a shelf positioned in the middle of the oven.
Grease and line the bottoms of two 9-inch cake pans and set them aside.
To a large mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients except the pecan nuts. That's the flour, sugar, coconut, ground flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Whisk together well.
If you haven't already, mash the banana to a puree in a medium sized bowl.
To the banana add the oil, milk, pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, vanilla, and chopped pineapple. Mix them together. It might curdle a bit. Don't worry, that's fine.
Have the chopped pecans and your cake pans ready and near you, as once the batter is mixed you need to work fast.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir together gently with a spatula. The batter will be thick. Make sure to get right into the bottom of the bowl to get all of the dry ingredients. Don't beat it or overmix. Treat it gently but work quickly. The sooner you get it in the oven the better your cakes will be.
Fold in half of the chopped pecan nuts (you can eye-ball it. It doesn't have to be absolutely exact) then immediately spoon the batter evenly between the 2 cake pans.
Give the pans a hard tap on your work surface to knock out any air bubbles then put them in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer, toothpick, or thin knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and place the cakes still in their pans on a wire rack and allow them to cool. Don't remove them from the pans yet.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Add the vegan butter to a large bowl and beat it with an electric mixer on a medium-high speed until soft and fluffy.
Add the cream cheese and beat again until combined and smooth but don't over-beat. As soon as it's combined stop.
Now add the arrowroot powder, salt, vanilla and about 2 cups of powdered sugar. Beat on the lowest speed for about 20 seconds until the powdered sugar has stopped flying around, then add another 2 cups. Beat again on low until it's mostly combined then turn the speed up to medium-high again and beat until smooth and creamy, scraping down the edges with a spatula as needed to get any dry powdered sugar off the sides and into the mix.
Add the remaining powdered sugar to thicken as needed. Using it all makes the frosting much easier to handle, spread and pipe.
As soon as it's nice and smooth stop. It's important not to over-beat. Do not be tempted to add any more liquid to the frosting at any stage because it will become too runny. Once done, cover the bowl and put it in the fridge until needed.
Assembly
Place one cake layer on your cake stand or serving plate flat side up. Evenly spread the top with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting.
Place the other sponge cake on top, flat side down. Spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides.
Garnish with the remaining chopped pecans.
I recommend refrigerating the cake for at least 30 minutes before attempting to cut it to give the frosting time to firm a little and make slicing neater and easier.
NOTES
As it's made with cream cheese it is best to keep this cake refrigerated. Cover it and store in the fridge for 6 to 7 days. It's a cake that actually gets better with time as the flavors have a chance to mingle and develop so it is perfect for making ahead.See the FAQs for details about using different pan sizes, and how to make ahead & freeze.