Brown Butter Hummingbird Cake
Brown Butter Hummingbird Cake is classic southern hummingbird bundt cake with a brown butter twist and a luscious cream cheese glaze!
I spent this past week soaking up the Scottsdale, Arizona sun with my family, and it was heavenly. What I loved about it was that it was all about relaxation…hanging poolside, watching the kids swim, catching movies, hiking, and eating.
Yes…lots of eating. 🙂
I couldn’t get enough pulled pork and Mexican food — southwestern food is one of my major weaknesses. Now that I’m back, it’s more like spending time gym-side than poolside.
I hit my TRX class bright and early today, and it was such an intense class. It left me feeling really good, because the hiking wasn’t enough considering I was eating vacation-style for 5 days.
Now that I’m back to my workout regiment, I can afford to eat this Hummingbird Cake! See how that works? Eat what you want on vacation, come home, exercise once, and you get to eat cake like you’re on vacation again. 🙂
Truthfully, I’ve really been craving hummingbird cake lately, and I needed to do something about it. One of the most popular recipes on my blog are my Healthier Hummingbird Muffins, and for good reason. They’re moist, delicious, and you wouldn’t know they’re healthy.
If you’re not familiar with hummingbird cake, it’s a cake that originated in the south. I stumbled upon it in one of my cookbooks a few years ago, and was intrigued by the sound of that cake. It sounded like carrot cake without the carrots!
Hummingbird cake is packed with bananas, crushed pineapple, and coconut. The cream cheese icing and pecans are a big hit with me, so I knew I’d love the cake. Funny thing is, I never tried the cake before I went and made a healthy muffin version.
That’s where this cake comes in. 🙂
I researched this cake all over the internet, and realized I just wanted to do a cake that wasn’t a sky high triple layer cake, or one that was laden with tons of sugar and oil. I based this cake off of my muffin recipe, and it came out perfectly.
The biggest change to the recipe? I decided to liven it up with brown butter, because it is a cake, and I thought that nutty, brown butter flavor would be fantastic with the banana, pineapple, and coconut. And it was fantastic. 🙂
When baking with brown butter, it’s important to brown the butter until the milk solids are golden brown, and the butter has a nutty aroma. It’s best to brown butter in a stainless steel pan so you can really see the color of the butter.
Once the butter is brown, put the pan of butter in an ice bath and let stand until the edges of the butter have solidified. Scoop it out into a mixing bowl with a rubber scraper, add the sugars, and you’re ready to cream the butter and sugar. The rest of the recipe is very straightforward. This is one easy cake.
This cake is incredibly moist, as I mentioned, due to all the banana, pineapple, and brown butter. I used brown sugar for flavor and added moisture as well, so this cake is as far away from dry as it gets. Top it with this super simple, luscious cream cheese glaze, and it’s perfection.
This Brown Butter Hummingbird Cake is one of those cakes that you can eat for dessert or breakfast. I mean, it has tons of fruit in it so it makes perfect sense to me.
What is coffee cake besides a cake that tastes great with coffee? This cake tastes great with coffee…trust me. 🙂
More hummingbird cake inspired recipes!
Healthier Hummingbird Bread with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Glaze
Brown Butter Hummingbird Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup mashed banana about 3 medium
- ½ cup milk room temperature
- ½ cup crushed pineapple drained well
- ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons milk
- Toasted pecans and coconut flakes for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a bundt pan generously with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Prepare an ice bath. In a small, stainless steel pot, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Increase the heat to medium and cook the butter until the milk solids turn golden brown and the butter has a nutty aroma. Place in the ice bath to cool.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Place the brown sugar in a large bowl. When the butter has solidified around the edges and is no longer hot, remove from the pan with a rubber scraper and place in the bowl with the sugars. Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated.
- Add the banana, milk, pineapple, coconut, and vanilla, and beat on low until combined.
- Fold in the dry ingredients just until incorporated, then pour into the prepared bundt pan and spread as evenly as possible.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for about 30 minutes on a wire rack, then run a knife around the edges and center of the cake carefully, and invert onto the wire rack to cool completely out of the pan.
Prepare the glaze:
- Beat the cream cheese on medium high until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until smooth and fluffy, 2 more minutes.
- Beat in the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the milk on low speed. Check the consistency — the glaze should pour easily from a spoon. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk if the glaze is not thin enough to pour.
- Place the cooled cake on a serving plate. Pour or spoon the glaze over the top carefully. Top with toasted, chopped pecans and coconut flakes. Enjoy!
Notes
- To toast pecans, place them on a rimmed baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, until fragrant.
- To toast coconut flakes, place in a 350 degree oven for 3 minutes, keeping a close eye on them as they burn quickly.
- Store leftover hummingbird cake in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
67 Comments on “Brown Butter Hummingbird Cake”
Hummingbird cake can really be a mystery, and it really is like carrot cake in a way. There’s so much goodness in this cake, and I hope you’re able to give it a try soon, Tashiana! 🙂
I’m making this as an excuse to eat cake for breakfast 🙂 One of the main reasons I exercise is also so I can eat fabulous looking cakes like this!
Thank you, Laura! It certainly sounds like we’re on the page! 🙂
I’m so glad the cake worked out for you, Sherri! Next time I don’t have pineapple, I’ll definitely use applesauce. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
What I wouldn’t give for a big slice of this fantastic cake! I really need to jump on the hummingbird cake wagon! 😉 Pinned!
I would’ve gladly given you a slice, because it was calling my name every single day until it was gone! This cake is a huge weakness for me, and I hope you get on that hummingbird bandwagon soon. 🙂 Thanks for the pin, Jocelyn, and have a great Monday!
What a great idea to make hummingbird cake with brown butter! I like your regimen of vacation-workout-cake too 🙂
Thank you, Bianca! 🙂
This cake looks wonderful. Visiting from Best of the Weekend Party.
Thanks so much, Julie! 🙂
This cake looks divine, Marcie! I love the brown butter- so cool and I bet it was hard to stop at just one slice! 🙂
It sure was hard to stop at one slice, Jessica! I ate one slice a day until it was gone…I could hardly stay away from it. 🙂
I’ve never hear of hummingbird cake. It sounds deliciously interesting 😀 With all these tasty ingredients it must be delicious! Plus you just can’t beat the flavor of browned butter. Pinning!!
Hummingbird cake tops the charts for me. I’m a chocolate lover too, but then there’s coconut, carrot and hummingbird not far behind. I hope you give a try, Cindy! 🙂
How much granulated sugar do you use in the cake batter?
Hi Andre. I used brown sugar in this recipe. If you prefer to use granulated, simply use that instead of the brown sugar.
I love a Hummingbird Cake and this brown butter version sounds wonderful! Love that you made a Bundt Cake version. Glad to hear you had a wonderful vacation!
Thank you, Christin! I’ve been wanting to make one for a while and yours really put a fire under me. Hope you’re having a good day! 🙂
I’ll be baking a LOT more with brown butter — there’s a reason it’s been such a popular trend! I would gladly trade you some of this cake for your lemon brownie bars…if only we were neighbors! 🙂
Hope you had a nice vacation! I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot more with brown butter — it really does make everything better. 🙂
Everything is better with brown butter! I bet this tastes absolutely incredible. I could really go for a slice right now with my afternoon tea! Delicious!
It really is delicious! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
It sounds like you had a nice vacation, Marcie! I would love a slice of this hummingbird cake to get me through the day 🙂
I’d gladly give you a slice, Ashley…I need it out of here! haha
And I felt like this cake was created just for me…maybe for both of us?! I sure hope you try it, Jamie, because it’s just divine. I like your definitely of science also. 🙂
I didn’t know what to think of it when I first saw it in my cookbook — such a different name! All I knew was it had to be a cake I would love. This cake is a winner, Carol, and I sure hope you get to try it! And once again, you had me chuckling. 🙂