Hummingbird Cake - Reconstructed

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.

Spread into the prepared pan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Trim the cake if necessary so that you have a disc 1cm deep. Chill the cake until needed.

Banana Cake Layer

Gluten Free Walnut Friand

(for non-gluten free, just substitute plain flour for the GF flour)

ingredients

85g butter, melted
3 egg whites

1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup gluten free flour (I used White Wings)

1/8 tsp salt
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.

Walnut Friand Layer

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.

Nutmeg Cheesecake Layer

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

225g crushed pineapple in juice
6g gelatine granules

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp caster sugar

1/4 tsp dried basil flowers, crushed in a mortar and pestle

mixing

Line the base of a 19cm round pan with bake paper, in the same way as for the banana cake. Spray the paper with non-stick spray.

Soak the gelatine granules in the water. Let sit for at least five minutes. When the gelatine has soaked up all the water, heat the mixture until the gelatine dissolves. You can do this by microwaving the mixture for about five seconds at a time until all of the granules are dissolved. Combine the pineapple and sugar and crushed flowers. Stir in the gelatine mixture. Refrigerate the mixture until it starts to gel. Then pour it into the prepared pan, and refrigerate until completely set. Chill the cake until needed.

Pineapple Basil Jelly Layer

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.

Coconut Salted Caramel

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

300mL cream

12g leaf gelatine
350mL coconut cream

140g sugar

65g light corn syrup

50mL water

3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt

mixing

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, and chill until needed. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 10 minutes. Heat 100mL of the coconut cream until very hot but not boiling. Squeeze the water from the gelatine leaves and add to the hot coconut cream. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, then stir in the rest of the cold coconut cream. Refrigerate until needed.

Beat the egg yolks with the vanilla, ginger and salt until light and very foamy. Combine the sugar, light corn syrup and water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to boil. Continue to boil the mixture until it reaches 116°C. Pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream over the beaten egg yolks, beating constantly. Beat the mixture until it has cooled slightly then beat in the gelatine mixture. Continue to beat the mixture until it is thick, creamy, and just warmer than blood temperature. Fold in the cooled coconut cream mixture, and then fold in the whipped cream. Chill the mousse a little before use. It should thicken slightly but not set.

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.

method

Trim the base and top of the pineapple. Slice the hard exterior away from the pineapple. Making slanted shallow cuts, remove the “eyes” from the outer surface as shown in the photo below.

Carefully cut very thin rounds (1 to 1.5mm thick) from the pineapple. Bake the slices in a single layer on a wire rack at 120 degrees Celsius until they are dry to the touch and starting to brown (how long this takes depends on how thin you managed to cut your slices, but about 15 minutes). Take the hot slices and immediately push the centres gently into small muffin tins so that the slices set in a flower shape as they cool. Store in an airtight container until needed (you can make these the day before).

Assembly

Pop a 22cm cake ring or springform pan (unfilled!) into the freezer for half an hour. This is important as you want the cold tin to help your lowermost layer of mousse to set quickly – that is why I said to freeze the banana cake layer too!

Load about half of the mousse into a large piping bag with a 7 mm round nozzle.

Place the frozen caramel coated banana cake on a round cake board which is equal to or wider than 22 cm in diameter. Set a deep 22 cm cake ring on the cake board and ensure that there is an equal amount of space around the entire base of the cake. Alternatively you can use a 22cm springform pan which has been lined with a disc of bake paper instead of the cake board and cake ring.

Layering it up for a test!

Pipe a ring of mousse around the outer edge of the cake ring. Take a look at the bottom edges of the cake. If the mousse looks like it is seeping out, refrigerate the assembly for a few minutes until the mousse has set. You will need to leave the remainder of the mousse at room temperature to discourage it from setting.

Spread a thin layer of mousse (just enough to encourage the layers to stick together) over the top of the caramel, and top with the cheesecake. Pipe another ring or two of mousse around the edges of the cheesecake.

Spread a thin layer of mousse over the top of the cheesecake, and top with the friand. Pipe another ring or two of mousse around the edges of the friand.

Spread a thin layer of mousse over the top of the friand, and top with the pineapple jelly. Pipe another ring or two of mousse around the edges of the jelly.

Tip the remainder of the mousse over the top of the cake and spread out, levelling the mousse using a long palette knife so that the mousse is even with the top of the cake ring.

Freeze the cake until the mousse is firm.

Serving

Remove the cake from the freezer and dampen a clean tea towel with hot water. Wring as much of the water as possible out of the tea towel and then wrap it around the outside of the frozen cake ring. Gently try to ease the cake ring up the sides of the cake. You may need to repeat the warming process more than once.

Place the cake on a serving plate and let the mousse (and cake if you left it in the freezer for a long time) thaw. Decorate with pineapple flowers. The cake keeps well, undecorated, for a few days. Don’t put the flowers on until the last minute as the moisture will cause them to lose their shape over time.

Enjoy!xxx

Hummingbird Cake – Reconstructed