Name: Healthy Hummingbird Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 3 cups almond flour; 1 teaspoon sea salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ginger; 4 eggs ((pastured, grass-fed)); 1/2 cup raw honey; 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted (or avocado oil)); 2 teaspoons vanilla; 2 bananas (ripe); 16 ounce crushed pineapple in juice (drained, *see notes for draining juice); 1/2 cup pecans (toasted and chopped (plus more to decorate, optional)); 2 packages cream cheese; 1/2 cup butter ((pastured, grass-fed)); 1 cup powdered monk fruit sweetener (or organic powdered sugar); 2 teaspoons vanilla

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This Healthy Hummingbird Cake is perfect to make for spring and summer parties! This delicate almond flour cake is made with bananas, pineapple, and chopped pecans, and topped with a cream cheese frosting.

If you love baking with almond flour, also try this Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake, or this Almond Flour Cake.

A slice of healthy hummingbird cake topped with cream cheese frosting and pecans.

Contents

What is Hummingbird Cake?

Carrot cake fans will love this Healthy Hummingbird Cake. It’s a spiced cake batter, made with bananas, crushed pineapple, and chopped and toasted pecans.

Similarly to a carrot cake, it’s also topped with a cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird cakes started out as unfrosted cakes made with bananas and crushed pineapple, and were popular because they stayed moist and fresh for a long time due to the fruit. It was referred to as “Doctor Bird Cake,” which is a Jamaican species of hummingbird.

In the 1960s, Hummingbird cake evolved to be made with nuts, in layers, with a cream cheese frosting. The recipe has been popular ever since.

I love baking in my Sharp European Convection Oven. Its roomy interior makes it possible to evenly bake layer cakes.

Plus, it has a sleek modern look that gives my kitchen a beautiful look.

A hummingbird cake sitting on top of the Sharp European Convection Oven.

The oven has a built-in timer, and lots of settings, to ensure all our recipes come out baked to perfection.

Hop on over to the Sharp Home USA website to see if this state-of-the-art oven is the perfect fit for your family!

What is in Hummingbird Cake?

Almond Flour
Baking Soda
Sea Salt
Cinnamon
Ginger
Raw Honey
Pastured (grass-fed) Eggs
Coconut Oil
Ripe Bananas
Crushed Pineapple in Juice
Cream Cheese Frosting

The ingredients needed to make a healthy hummingbird cake.

What You’ll Need for a Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting

Organic Cream Cheese
Pastured (grass-fed) Butter
Powdered Monk Fruit Sweetener (or organic powdered sugar)
Vanilla

See full instructions for how to make cream cheese frosting here!

How to Make an Almond Flour Hummingbird Cake

Step 1: In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in the almond flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon and ginger. Whisk to combine dry ingredients.

Step 2: Line a bowl with a linen towel or napkin, and add crushed pineapple into the linen. Squeeze out excess moisture. Almond flour will no absorb liquid like wheat flour, so skipping this step will lead to a mushy cake.

Step 1 shows mixing the dry ingredients, and step 2 shows draining the pineapple.

Step 3: Add eggs to a stand mixer bowl. Whisk the eggs for 2-3 minutes on high, until foamy.

Step 4: Add the coconut oil, raw honey, pineapple, and bananas into the eggs. Whisk to combine and break up the bananas into the wet mixture.

Step 3 shows whisking the eggs until foamy, and step 4 shows adding in rest of the wet ingredients in to the eggs.

Step 5: Add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and use a spatula to stir them in until combined.

Step 6: Add chopped pecans into the batter and fold in.

Step 5 shows adding the dry ingredients into the wet, and step 6 shows folding in chopped pecans.

Step 7: Divide the cake batter evenly into 2 prepared 8-inch cake pans.

Step 8: Bake cakes for 35 minutes, until browned and cooked through in the center. Cool completely before removing the cakes from the tins.

Step 7 shows adding the batter to prepared cake pans, and step 8 shows baking the cakes.

How to Make a Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting

Step 1: Add softened cream cheese and butter into a stand mixer bowl, and beat using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy.

Step 2: Add the powdered monk fruit sweetener (or powdered sugar) and vanilla, and beat until fully mixed.

Cream cheese frosting made in a stand mixer.

How to Frost a Layer Cake

Step 1: Add 1 layer of the cake to a serving platter or cake stand. I like to hold it in place with a couple tablespoons of frosting.

Placing the first layer of the cake on a platter.

Step 2: Top the cake with a thick layer of frosting. This is the filling between the layers.

Adding a thick layer of cream cheese frosting onto the top of the first layer.

Step 3: Top the layer of frosting with the second layer of the cake, and press around the edges to ensure its centered.

Adding the second layer of cake on top of the filling.

Step 4: Apply a thin layer, or crumb coat, of the frosting on the cake. You should be able to see the cake through it. This is a first layer that will catch the crumbs so you can apply another coat that stays perfectly white without showing crumbs. After applying the crumb coat, allow the cake chill in the refrigerator for about an hour to let it set.

A layer cake shown with a thin layer of frosting known as a crumb coat.

Step 5: Use the remaining frosting to coat the cake in a thicker layer of frosting.

A layer cake shown iced with a thick layer of cream cheese.

Step 6: Decorate your Healthy Hummingbird Cake with pecans or toasted coconut.

A hummingbird cake shown decorated with whole pecans.

Variations – A Hummingbird Cake without Pineapple

Swaps: The pineapple adds a lot of moisture to this cake, so don’t omit with pineapple without making a substitution. Swap pineapple for 1 cup of shredded carrot or zucchini (no need to squeeze out moisture). Either option will keep the moisture in the cake!

Leave out the Pecans: It’s okay to omit the pecans, or to swap them with chopped walnuts.

Hummingbird Cake with Coconut: Add 1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut to the batter along with the pecans. You can also toast coconut and use it to decorate the cake along with the pecans.

Storing and Serving

This cake stores well and can be made up to a week ahead of time.

After the cream cheese frosting has set and is dry to touch, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

To Freeze: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then cover in several layers of foil, and freeze the cake (frosted) for up to 3 months. Allow the cake to thaw for 1 day in the refrigerator to serve.

A almond flour cake with cream cheese frosting.

Other Gluten Free Cake Recipes

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