Vintage Eats Recipe: 1970 Hummingbird Cake

Do you feel confident sharing your food with others?

I have done so on several occasions, only to discover later some dishes were somewhat less than I had hoped for in taste and appearance.

Cases in point: The lemon quick bread I gave to a relative was in thanks for help on a project. Unfortunately, the potato included as an ingredient was not mashed well and lumps could be spotted and tasted throughout the dish. Ugh. I didn’t discover this until I tasted my loaf at home after delivery. They never mentioned it, but I was so disappointed.

Then there were the ham and cheese sliders I took for a potluck at church. This dish had always looked simple to me so I felt it would be easy to make. Unfortunately, I baked the bread too long so it was hard to bite into. I threw nearly all of it away. Disappointing and double ugh.

Embarrassing mishaps in the kitchen are bound to happen. We all have them. They are featured on cooking competitions on TV. I admit, when people with much more culinary talent than me make obvious goofs, resulting in disasters, I’m terribly interested in seeing how they handle the situation. It’s usually with lots of swearing and gesturing.

I think the key to culinary success is not to give up.

Right now I’m going through a grieving process and so I bake for therapy. Following a recipe is a happy place for me because it gives me something to focus on, step by step. This something will hopefully have happy results and please me and other people, while also serving a functional purpose.

I usually choose recipes new to me and manageable. If I bake something with memories attached, meaning it was a family favorite, often I cannot finish it because of emotional strain.

I avoid yeast breads or pastry because I can’t master them, no matter how many episodes of ‘The Great British Baking Show’ I watch.

But I can make simple cakes, cookies, pasta, quick breads, chicken dishes, and other food that don’t require many technical skills.

These are the recipes I present to you here. I don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen and I believe the same is true for you.

I also look for recipes that are delicious, economical, and fun to make.

And of course, as this blog is called ‘Vintage Eats’, the recipes have to be old (pre-1984)!

Thankfully, some of those vintage recipes were –and still are –winners!

That is the case with Hummingbird Cake. This cake is filled with the summertime flavors of pineapple and banana. Apparently, it originated in the Caribbean, hence the Hawaiian design for my backdrop.

This recipe is to be made in a tube (Bundt) pan which should be greased well.

I found this recipe for Hummingbird Cake in a three-ring binder cookbook called ‘Cooking Adventures.’

The cookbook has no page numbers, but it contains hundreds of recipes as you can see from this bottom view of the pages.

This cookbook does not have a publication page, but I assume it was published in the 1970s.

My Hummingbird Cake turned out so well that I took it to first responders in my town –after I tasted a sliver to make sure it was done inside and perfectly baked!

After some cooking failures, it can be a challenge to share dishes with strangers, especially those whom I admire and appreciate. I can only hope they enjoyed it and that it made their day brighter.

Another recipe from Cooking Adventures is the delicious and healthy Fruit and Cream Salad that I posted recently.

I encourage you to make Hummingbird Cake and share it with others. You could take it to a picnic or a church potluck. Some libraries have tube pans that can be checked out, should you not have your own.

What are you baking/ cooking during these hot days of summer?

Take care,

**

Hummingbird Cake

2 cups sugar

1.5 cups oil

3 eggs

1.5 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups ripe bananas, mashed

Mix sugar and oil either by hand or with a mixer.

Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl stir together flour and cinnamon.

Add flour mix to egg mix and stir well.

Stir in pineapple and bananas.  

Pour into a well-greased 10-cup tube pan. Tap pan a few times to allow batter to get into all crevices.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour and 10 minutes. Test for doneness with skewer.

Let cake sit for 10 minutes in pan before inverting it.

Cool completely before frosting with vanilla cream cheese icing. One cup chopped pecans can be added for garnish.

Yield: 10 servings