A light and summery cake with a cream cheese topping. Just put the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another, then stir them all together and bake. You could say it’s a Hummingbird sheet cake. It tastes a bit like a carrot cake with a tropical twist!
THIS CAKE!!
There’s no shortage of banana cakes around here. In fact there’s quite the variety, from a peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip cake or mini air fryer banana bread for afternoon tea to healthy brownies with avocado and even a banana mug cake for two.
But this has to be my favourite (perhaps along with the pb, banana and choc chip cake!).
You could say this is a rather summery cake. But it goes down well any time of year and for any occasion.
Why I love it and you will too
I do love the ‘tropical theme’ going on with this cake. I also love:
- It’s light without being dry (you can thank the oil and pineapple juice in it for that).
- The flavours are all distinctly there but without being overpowering.
- There’s a thick (it’s got to be thick!) layer of cream cheese frosting on the top. It tricks your mind into thinking you’re eating a carrot cake. And everyone loves carrot cake, right?
- There’s a hint of spice in the cake batter – a bit of cinnamon, and a bit of ground ginger. Such a lovely compliment to all those tropical flavours.
- It isn’t too naughty. While I wouldn’t exactly go as far as to say it’s ‘healthy’, there’s only three quarters of a cup of sugar in the whole cake. I use half olive oil and half vegetable oil instead of butter. I also use half wholemeal flour instead of all white (this works well, giving the cake a slightly nuttier flavour).
- It’s quite tall. So it’s a great cake for feeding a small crowd!
Not too bad at all!
About the ingredients
- This cake contains oil and not butter, which always means it’s easier to make as there’s no creaming of butter and sugar.
- I like to use a mixture of white flour and wholemeal. This not only makes for a healthier cake, it gives it a slightly nutty texture, too.
- Use light or dark brown sugar. But only 3/4 cup, so not the naughtiest cake in the world!
- The ‘magic’ of this cake is in the 2 whole bananas, the half cup of coconut and the whole can of pineapple in juice. Yum!
- A teaspoon of cinnamon and a teapsoon of ginger give the cake a nice warming hint of spice.
How to make it
This is a very easy cake to make. It tastes like a much more complicated cake.
All you do is mix up the dry ingredients, mix up the wet ingredients, then stir the two together.
Bake for barely half an hour, then let cool completely before adding the icing.
How to make the cream cheese icing
You need just 2 ingredients for this: cream cheese and icing sugar (2 whole cups of it!).
Sprinkle crushed walnuts or another kind of nut over the top if you like.
How to serve it
A banana sheet cake like this is a pretty good cake for a small crowd. You can easily cut it into around 16 squares as it’s pretty tall.
It would be perfect for any kind of occasion: a baby shower, a summer BBQ, a birthday party (just add candles!), a pot luck, and many more.
More easy snack cake recipes
- Addictive peanut butter cheerio bars
- Lemon bakewell slices (a slice of English tradition!)
- No bowl chocolate pecan bars
- Banana sheet cake with peanut butter fudge frosting
- Rhubarb and ginger oat slices (healthy flapjacks!)
- Or see all of my cakes!
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Coconut and pineapple banana cake (Hummingbird cake)
Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click below for grams/ml)
For the cake
- 2 cups plain flour I used 1 cup wholemeal, 1 cup white
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup dessicated or flaked coconut
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 small to medium ripe bananas mashed
- 2 large eggs whisked
- ¾ cup dark or light brown sugar
- ½ cup oil I used half light olive oil and half rape seed oil, but any is fine
- 8 ounces pineapple with juice, (1 can) pineapple chopped into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
For the frosting
- 4½ ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups icing / powdered sugar
- ½ cup crushed walnuts to decorate optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 355F and line a 8 – 9 inch square (or equivalent) baking pan with baking paper.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut, and salt in a large bowl.
- Mash the banana in another large bowl, then whisk in the eggs, sugar, oil, pineapple and juice, cinnamon and ginger.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined (take care not to overmix).
- Pour into the baking pan, then bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out more or less clean.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Beat the cream cheese with a hand-held whisk, then slowly whisk in the icing / powdered sugar until you have a thick frosting. Pile on top of the cake (nice and thick!) when the cake is completely cool.
Cassie says
I love this! I literally needed a cake recipe that would use up some brown bananas and leftover pineapple juice. In desperation (and feeling quite sure search would be fruitless) I did a little Google, and up this popped! I didn’t have dessicated coconut so I used ground almonds instead and coconut oil instead of olive. It’s turned out lovely. I’m really chuffed with this, thank you!
Helen says
Oh Cassie you’ve made my day!!! So glad this turned out well for you and thank you so much for taking the time to let me know and leave a rating. It’s really good for me to know you can change things up a bit and still get good results, too. I’ll have to try the ground almonds next time!
Sarah says
Hello! I am really keen to try this! Just wanted to check if it will work with fresh pineapple instead (I have a ripe pineapple sitting at home!)? Not sure if it will be less moist in this case. Thanks for your help!
Helen says
Hi Sarah! Very happy you’re going to give this a go! I’m sure it would be delicious with fresh pineapple, but I’d add in a little bit of liquid – some sort of juice, or milk or water if you don’t have any. Just 100ml or so – about the amount that would be in a can of pineapple. I know this doesn’t sound very accurate, and it isn’t, but I think it would work out just fine if you did this! Please let me know how you get on and I’ll adjust the recipe to include this way of doing things. 🙂
DV says
Hi,
This cake seems really nice.
Can we bake it without the coconut?Do we increase or decrease anything in the recipe?
Does it taste fine without the icing?
Thanks in advance for your help.
DV
Helen says
Hello! I’m afraid I have never tried making this cake without the coconut, but I’m pretty sure it would still taste really good. You could add the same amount of grated carrot instead, or just leave the coconut out and see how you go!
DV says
Hi Helen,
Just baked this cake,,,,tropical love..loved it,it turned out fab.
I did not use the coconut just bananas and pineapple,I also reduced the sugar a little(bananas were super ripe).
my cake took around 40 minutes to bake.
I don,t know why but a strong soda taste was left in the mouth could it be because of the changes..over all delicious
Really yum.
BOOKMARKED.
Thank you
Helen says
Hi! So happy you enjoyed the cake – even without the coconut! I’m not sure why you had the soda taste? Maybe try using new baking powder/soda, or omitting the soda altogether if that doesn’t work. I honestly haven’t had this issue when I’ve made this cake, but I will certainly look out for it in the future, just in case anything needs tweaking in the recipe. Thanks again for leaving your feedback – I always appreciate that! 🙂
DV says
Hi Helen,
The baking powder was fresh,do you think the cake will rise without the baking soda?
Thanks.
DV
Helen says
I think it would probably still rise, although I haven’t tried this cake without the baking soda. Another thing you could try is making sure the baking soda is really well mixed in with the dry ingredients before you mix with the wet. Apparently that can sometimes have an effect, as can humidity. I really hope you give this another go and that you can’t taste the soda this time!
yamini says
Absolutely delicious and moist cake! i had 2 ripe bananas and a tin of crushed pineapple…it was divine! I had some orange cream cheese frosting in the fridge that I needed to finish as well..which made for a great topping. Thank you!!!!
Helen says
Hi Yamini, thank you so much for taking the time to leave your feedback. I’m so happy you liked the recipe – it’s divine, isn’t it? This truly is one of my favourite cakes! I like your idea of orange cream cheese icing. Mmmmmm!
plasterer in bristol says
My all time favourite, this looks soooo good
Helen says
Thank you!
plasterer bristol says
Oh boy we made this yesterday. turned out great and tasted delicious. Thanks for this.
Simon
Helen says
Thanks so much for taking the time to come and give your feedback, Simon – and such great feedback too! You’ve made me want to make this again now too!
Marissa says
This looks wonderful, Helen! I’d gladly eat it at breakfast, lunch or dinner! Love the warmth of cinnamon and ginger in it too…perfect partner to all of those wonderful tropical flavors!
Helen says
Thanks, Marissa. I think I did eat it for all 3 of those meals – it didn’t last very long!
Lynn | The Road to Honey says
Ha! Ha! This sounds just like Boston. People are so anxious for summer that they are walking around half nude. . .but not me. . .I’m still wearing my down puffer jacket. Despite these breezy temperatures. . .I’m still A-OK with pretending the warm breezes of summer are here if It means I can have a big slice of this cake. I absolutely adore cake that is infused with pineapple and coconut. And let’s not talk about that divine frosting. . .because I might be tempted to spoon it all off and into my mouth.
Helen says
Hi Lynn! I’m glad we’re not the only ones! We went hiking on Saturday and it was SO cold – even started snowing and then hailing at one point. But yeah, I’m with you – I’m all for pretending!
Shashi @ RunninSrilankan says
Oh Helen – I am so jealous of your colleague! She got to enjoy this cake and I’m here drooling and trying my best not to lick the screen! I adore that you used pineapple, bananas and coconut in this – each slice must be a slice of summer indeed!
Helen says
Hi Shashi! Hope you’re well. I love that – a slice of summer! Let’s hope real summer is not too far behind. 🙂
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
I loooove Hummingbird cake! And hehe I’m in denial of the cold weather although I turned on the heater the other night. I’m being a baby though because it really isn’t that cold 🙂
Helen says
Yes, but your homes get pretty cold over there in Winter – I remember huddling by the radiator sometimes!
[email protected] says
This is my kind of cake. I love all the flavors going on. I’ll be making this soon.
Helen says
Hope you do, Janette – it really is one lovely cake!
Kathleen | Hapa Nom Nom says
Oh… my…. gawd!!! I LOVE spice cakes! I am generally not a big sweets person. But put any type of spice cake in front of me, and I can’t help myself! I love the pineapple juice you added to keep it naturally sweet and totally moist! And that cream cheese frosting – you can’t skimp on that! I could just spoon that into my mouth, spoonful after spoonful!
Helen says
Thanks, Kathleen!!! I surprised myself with this one. It was a bit of an experiment, but worked first time. I love it! So glad you like it too!
[email protected] says
YES it seems like a summery cake to me! 🙂 And I totally agree that pineapple juice + oil is a fab way to make cakes moist, it’s exactly how the carrot cake I posted last week is moist too!!! 🙂 I love your cakes, your Swedish chocolate cake is always my “go to” for a fast dessert recipe!
Helen says
This is the first time I’ve used that pineapple juice trick, but it really works! I was expecting to have to experiment with this a lot before it worked, but nope, seems like a pretty fool-proof cake – so perfect for people like me!
And thanks so much for the compliment on my cakes, Nagi! 🙂
Bam's Kitchen says
I have a secret fascination with eating your pineapple banana cake for breakfast. I ask is there anything really wrong with that.I look at your recipe lets see we have pineapple, bananas and coconut. Heck it practically diet food!!! LOL I would just need a hot cuppa to go along with it and I would be sorted. Sharing and pinning!
Helen says
Love this, Bam! I really really hope you do satisfy your craving to have cake for breakfast some time very soon. If not this cake, another delicious one! 🙂
Loris Ayoub says
This just went into the oven. I am crossing my fingers … I am not sure I will do the icing as it will add many calories and I suffer from cholesterol
Helen says
Hi Loris! I really hope this turned out OK for you! So happy you gave it a go! I just replied to your comment on Facebook. I had a feeling the grape molasses would work just fine. Hope it did!! 🙂
Keith @ How's it Lookin? says
I gotta try this. The combo sounds so flavorful, thanks for sharing
Helen says
Hi Keith! Thanks for visiting and for the compliment. This really is a great cake and hope you give it a go some time. 🙂
Marilyn says
This cake my mother made in the 70s. It is called hummingbird cake.. Her name was marjorie
Helen says
Hi Marilyn, thanks so much for visiting. You’re right, this is very like a Hummingbird cake (just without the walnuts in the batter, but you could go ahead and add the walnuts if you wanted to). I think I’ll add a note to my recipe – thank you! And thank you to people like your mom Marjorie who’ve passed recipes like this down!
cheri says
Looks like a delicious summery cake to me, love the combo of ingredients that you used. It’s in the 80’s and 90’s here now, yikes!
Helen says
Oooh, don’t make me jealous Cheri – we had snow yesterday! 🙁
Andus says
This looks great, but I don’t understand American measurements. What size cup do you use?
Helen says
Hi Andus! Just click on the ‘metric’ button next to the ‘Ingredients’ heading in the recipe. You can find grams and ml measurements there. I hope you enjoy the cake. It’s delicious!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
What a unique twist on banana bread. I love the pineapple and coconut in it- it makes it really tropical.
Helen says
Thanks, Dannii! We really love this cake – hope you give it a go!
Eva says
Eh oui! Définitivement il me pareil un cake d’été et je veut le réaliser très vite pour faire venir le beau temps plus vite ! Il a l’air incroyablement bon Helen!
Helen says
Tres bonne idee, Eva – ici il neigeait hier!! 🙁