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slice of Hummingbird cake on a plate
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5 from 5 votes

Gluten-Free Hummingbird Cake

This is the Gluten-Free Hummingbird Cake you have been looking for. Bursting with bananas, fresh pineapple and pecans and lightly spiced with cinnamon. Filled and covered in a gloriously dreamy cream cheese buttercream. Here we make it with your favourite gluten-free flours for maximum flavour and perfect texture.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Cake
Cuisine: American
Servings: 16 people
Calories: 880kcal

Ingredients

  • 300 g bananas about (3-4), mashed
  • 300 ml olive oil mild and light
  • 200 g soft light brown sugar
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs medium
  • teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 120 g sweet rice flour
  • 100 g oat flour
  • 80 g almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 75 g pecans roughly chopped + 25g decoration
  • 1 fresh pineapple diced
  • 25 g dried banana chips for decoration

Cream Cheese Buttercream

  • 525 g unsalted butter
  • 600 g icing sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 375 g cream cheese

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan assisted oven/gas 4 and line and grease three 8 inch x 4 inch round cake tins.
  • Beat the bananas with the olive oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla extract in large bowl or standing mixer until thoroughly combined.
  • Whisk the flours together in a separate bowl with the bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt.
  • Fold the flour into the wet ingredients one third at a time.
  • Stir in 275g of the diced pineapple and pecans until evenly dispersed.
  • Divide the batter between the three baking tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

  • Cream the butter and icing sugar and mix for about 10 minutes until very light and fluffy.
  • Add the salt and vanilla and mix again to combine.
  • Finally add the cream cheese and mix until just combined.

Assembly

  • Place one of the cake layers on a cake board or cake stand.
  • Fill a piping bag with the buttercream. Pipe concentric circles around the top of the cake layer. Use a small spatula to smooth so it creates an even layer of buttercream.
  • Place the second layer of cake on top of the buttercream then add another layer of buttercream.
  • Finally place the third cake layer on top and add a final layer of buttercream.
  • Pipe the rest of the buttercream around the sides of the cake and use a spatula to smooth.
  • Pipe buttercream, using a piping tip of your choice, around the top of the cake.
  • Decorate with dried banana, the extra pineapple (see notes below on how to dry it out) and extra pecans.

Notes

  • Use ripe bananas – you want them to mash well into the batter and ripe bananas have a deeper flavour.
  • Olive oil – make sure you use flavourless mild and light olive oil.
  • Vanilla extract – use extract not essence for the right flavour.
  • Oat flour – you can substitute for sorghum flour if you are intolerant to oats.
  • Almond flour – if you can’t get hold of it you can use finely ground almonds.
  • Pineapple – you can use tinned if you can’t get hold of fresh pineapple.
  • Leftover pineapple – use it to decorate the cake. To avoid the juice seeping over the top dry it out in the oven. Place the diced pineapple on a lined baking tray and baked for a couple of hours in an oven set to 100°C/80°C fan assisted oven/gas ½.
  • Storage – cream cheese buttercream doesn’t keep well out of the fridge so as soon as the cake is decorated then store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze – this cake freezes really well for up to 2 months. If you are freezing leftover cake then I like to cut into slices to freeze.

Nutrition

Calories: 880kcal | Carbohydrates: 82g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 61g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 127mg | Sodium: 384mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 65g | Vitamin A: 1224IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 1mg