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05/20/2021 12:01 AMWhen we had our house on Old Lyme, we fed all our outside wildlife.
In terrible weather, I went out into the screened back porch and fed all the creatures out of 50-pound sacks of wild bird seed, sunflower seeds, dried corn, and peanuts. After larger animals found broke into the screens and ate the goodies, we had large lidded galvanized can on the porch, but we kept the 50-pound sacks in the dining room. In the late summer and until early autumn, I cleaned out the big bird feeders and hung the hummingbird feeders. As tiny as they were, I could hear the flutters of their wings and loved to see how territorial they were.
After I sold the house in 2014 and moved into a condo, I still fed all the birds, but I never got a single hummingbird.
This spring, my seventh year, I told the hummers that their sabbatical was over and that this would be their last chance.
I bought two big fuchsia plants and made my own sugar water. (Thank you Beth Utke: 1 cup sugar, 4 cups water. Boil 1 cup of water, add the sugar, stir the mixture until clear, add the rest of the water, and change the sugar-water every other day.)
I think they got the memo. I now have hummers. So, I thought, how about the hummingbird cake. Haven’t made it in years, but it is delicious. This makes a three-layer cake.
Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.
Hummingbird Cake
Adapted from Southern Living, 1978
Yield: serves 12
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 8-ounce crushed pineapple in juice
(use the juice in the recipe, too)
2 cups ripe bananas (about 3 bananas), mashed
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Cream Cheese Frosting
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 16-ounce packages confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup pecan halves, toasted
Directions
Prepare three, 9-inch layer cake pans with Pam. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, bananas, and toasted pecans. Divide evenly among the pans.
Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely, at least 1 hour.
This cake can be made in a very large Pyrex pan and baked for at least 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. To make cupcakes, bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, also until a wooden pick inserted until it comes out clean.
Prepare the cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer on medium-low until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating on low until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Increase speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
After you spread the frosting between each cake and the top and sides, top the tops with pecan halves.