Skip to main content

Reading Inspired Baking :)

To anyone who read my last blog post, it is no secret just how much I loved Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. While reading it however, there is a passage where the main character Harper Price is baking a hummingbird cake to give as a gift, and I was instantly intrigued.

It happens to me quite often while reading books, that I am suddenly inspired to try making what they are having for dinner, breakfast, lunch or dessert, as it always sounds so yummy. This is often a frequent occurrence after reading Debbie Macomber's books, particularly her Cedar Cove series, and after reading The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick, I quickly decided that baked macaroni and cheese needed to be on the menu for dinner.

However, hummingbird cake was something I was completely unfamiliar with. I had no idea what this particular kind of cake even consisted of, and so I was off on a recipe hunt to find out what exactly this amazing sounding cake was.

I researched several amazing sounding recipes, and decided to go with one from www.simplyrecipes.com as it sounded delicious.(Full recipe link below)  Since I knew there was no way that my hubby and I could ever finish a three layer cake with just the two of us, I decided to take it to mom's house as dessert for her thanksgiving dinner. It was met by absolutely rave reviews, and it didn't take long for it to completely disappear.

I'm curious to know if anyone else is ever inspired in their kitchen by what they are currently reading :)

Here was my process for making this cake.

This is NOT my recipe, all credit goes to the amazing Elise from Simply Recipes.

Hummingbird Cake Ingredients:

3 Cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking power
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I actually omitted this as I am not a fan)
3 eggs
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
2 cups mashed bananas, from about 3 or 4 bananas
1 cup finely chopped pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1lb cream cheese, softened. (I only used one eight ounce package)
1 cup butter, softened. (I only used half a cup)
2 pounds confectioner's sugar (I only used one pound)
1 tablespoon Cointreau (I also omitted this)
1 cup roughly chopped pecans
edible flowers (I did not use these either).

I started by gathering all my ingredients.

Then I whisked together all the dry ingredients, and placed wax paper in three round nine inch cake pans. The recipe just said to flour them, but I generally use the wax paper method as I personally find it works better for me.

Then I whisked up the oil, sugar and eggs.

And added the mashed bananas and pineapple.
Then I mixed the wet ingredients into the dry, and prepared the cake batter

I unfortunately got distracted at this point and didn't get a picture of the batter going in to the pans. But this is how amazing the cakes looked coming out of the oven.

And this was the amazing final product. My decorating left a little to be desired, but this recipe was amazing! I highly recommend checking out the full recipe here : http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/hummingbird_cake/

This is not a sponsored post. Everything used in this baking process was purchased by me with my own money. I am also not affiliated with the blog promoted in this post. I am simply a huge fan of the site, and encourage everyone to check it out.

Thanks for reading, and I will see everyone in my next post.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First Line Friday: Courting Mr. Emerson

Happy Friday Everyone :) Since it is Friday, I'll once again be participating in First Line Friday which is hosted by Hoarding Books .  For this week, I'm going to be sharing the first line from Melody Carlson's newest book, Courting Mr. Emerson. About The Book: When the fun-loving and spontaneous artist Willow West meets buttoned-up, retired English teacher George Emerson, it's not exactly love at first sight. Though she does find the obsessive-compulsive man intriguing. Making it her mission to get him to loosen up and embrace life, she embarks on what seems like a lost cause--and finds herself falling for him in the process. A confirmed bachelor, George vacillates between irritation and attraction whenever Willow is around--which to him seems like all too often. He's not interested in expanding his horizons or making new friends; it just hurts too much when you lose them. But as the summer progresses, George feels his defenses crumbling. The quest...

First Line Friday: The Inheritance

Happy Friday Everyone :) I hope you're all had a great week and that you're staying safe no matter where you are. I haven't been leaving my house much lately other than for work, and because of this, I've had lots of reading time on my hands. Last year my hubby and I took a road trip that included a visit to our favorite bookstore, and we decided to each pick a book that wouldn't be our first choice. The purpose was to try and read something that still interested us, but would maybe be a bit different than what we would typically go for first. My pick ended up being The Inheritance by Michael Phillips, a book I actually ended up being quite excited about, despite never having heard of it prior. Unfortunately, it ended up sitting on my bookshelf ever since, and I'm so thankful I finally got the opportunity to pick it up and start reading it this past week. The Inheritance by Michael Phillips: About the Book: The death of the clan patriarch h...

First Line Friday: Remembering the Cowboy by Mandi Blake

Happy Friday Friends :) There's so many reasons I'm excited that it's once again Friday. I'm excited to be taking part in another edition of First Line Friday hosted by Hoarding Books , but I'm also excited to be featuring one of my favorite author's new releases for this week's edition. First Line Friday simply consists of sharing the first line from the book you're currently reading, and today I'm going to be sharing from Mandi Blake's new book, which released last week. Remembering the Cowboy by Mandi Blake: About the Book: They have unfinished business. She just can’t remember what it is. Camille Vanderbilt is headed back home to Wyoming with one goal: find her old best friend and give him a piece of her mind for ghosting her six years ago. She won’t let anyone stand in her way… until a deer runs into the road and causes her to wreck and forget almost everything. Noah Harding lives a simple life as a firefighter and rancher until Camille cras...