Monday, August 3, 2009

Hummingbird Cupcakes for My Girl Paula

Years ago I lost my copy of The Lady & Sons, Too! at the grocery store. It was a much-loved copy complete with food stains, dog-ears, and hand-written notes. I left it in the grocery cart during checkout and apparently someone else took it home. When I discovered there was a blogging group called My Girl Paula, I knew it was time to join and repurchase the book. I am so excited to say that I was able to purchase a copy of the book for just $.79 from Amazon! The book and shipping were only $4.29 and I couldn't have been any happier!

Last week, we made basil grilled chicken, which was fabulous, and a total keeper! This week, we are making Paula's Hummingbird Cake, which I made into cupcakes! If you've never had Hummingbird Cake before, then you are seriously missing out! These cupcakes were delicious! The cake is full of chopped pecans, mashed banana, and crushed pineapple. Add the cream cheese frosting and you are in heaven! My husband gave these his top rating, along with my in-law's, and all the girlies at work!! Thanks Paula!

Hummingbird Cake- adapted from Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons, Too!

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-3/4 cup mashed bananas
One 8-oz. can crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

Frosting:
One 8-oz. package cream cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temp
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans (For cupcakes use cupcake/muffin liners or grease and flour cupcake pans) For the cake, in a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the eggs and oil and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in the banana, the pineapple and its juice, the pecans, and the vanilla.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake for 23-28 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. (For cupcakes, this recipe made 24 cupcakes which were baked for 25- 30 minutes). Cool the cake layers in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

While the cake cools, make the frosting: In a bowl, blend together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the pecans, or reserve them to sprinkle over the frosted cake. Fill and frost the cake.

Head on over to My Girl Paula to see how others enjoyed this cake. Next Monday, we will be making Paula's Black Bean Dip!

17 comments:

  1. Great idea making cupcakes I bet it really simplified the recipe. My kids would of liked that. I bet a bundt cake would be good as well. I wanted nuts in the batter but the kids dont like nuts. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very nice! Geeez, I should have thought of cupcakes! That would have saved me from buying three cake pans! lol Yours look great - and so fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the cupcake idea! then I don't eat a huge slice, lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love hummingbird cake. These look great.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh man, I bet these are absolutely delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my! Those came out GREAT girl! I am drooling right now...literally. Great job :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a steal!!! That's awesome...these sound really, really good! I need to get this book.

    ReplyDelete
  8. LOVE the cupcake idea. They look adorable. I so want to try this cake after reading all about this recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love that you made these out of cupcakes. My kids would love that!!! They look wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your cupcakes look wonderful! A few years back my mom and I went to a cooking class with Paula Deen- she's great! Can't wait to make these.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thaws sound wonderful, as did the potato skins, although not the day that went with it. Thanks for your comment, it's such a sad story for all involved.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kim, got my wonderful goody box last night. I'd never heard of Lush, but love special soaps. I can't wait to try the bath bomb! I used the fig and leaves soap already and love it! Thank you so much for a great giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oooh, nice one! Looks so yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely cupcakes and especially lovely platter!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love these! They look sssooo yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love cupcakes so much more than cake...how many did this make?

    I am in heaven at the sound of these...they look so pretty! And .79 cents for a cookbook?!?!? I need to shop on amazon more often.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks everyone! Believe me when I say I would've loved to share these cupcakes with you all! I think I ate about eight of them :)

    Joanne- The recipe made 24 cupcakes, which would've been one huge cake! Amazon has a lot of used cookbooks at reduced prices. Mine was in almost perfect condition, except for one page.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment! At the moment I am having a huge problem with spam so I've had to add comment moderation and close off comments to anonymous users. I apologize for the trouble and hope to return my comments to normal shortly.